


Sealed with a Kiss

by StarvingLunatic



Category: Kim Possible (Cartoon)
Genre: Bisexual Female Character, Drama, F/F, F/M, Homophobic Language, Novella, Romance, Self-Discovery, Wordcount: 10.000-30.000, Wordcount: Over 20.000, kibo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-04-19
Updated: 2007-06-01
Packaged: 2018-04-07 21:09:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4278021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarvingLunatic/pseuds/StarvingLunatic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>12 yr. old Bonnie was saved by Kim and they had a chance to become friends until Bonnie's sisters started making fun of her, so Bonnie decided to hate Kim. 4 years later, Bonnie starts to reconsider her feelings. KiBo.</p><p>Sequel <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/4590264/"><span class="u">And Life Goes On</span></a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. At First Sight

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t own these characters.
> 
> A/N: this fic ignores pretty much the fact that Kim stopped liking Josh Mankey.
> 
> A little rant: I wanted to do a KiBo story because I liked the background story I did for Bonnie and her attraction to Kim in “[In the Middle](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2358098).” This one is different from that one, but I’m hoping it works out.

Sealed with a Kiss

1: At First Sight

Twelve-year-old Bonnie walked down the streets of Middleton, heading to a nearby park. She did her best not to stomp as she moved. Dancers did not stomp, after all. Of course, dancers also did not grind their teeth, but her teeth worked against each other. Her body was tense and she felt like she was on the urge of shattering. 

She was thin as a rail with ochre brown hair that flowed down her back like a cutting river. Her turquoise eyes bore none of the fire she would later be known for, but more of a burden chained to her soul. Her eyes looked tired, much too tired for a twelve-year-old. The cause of the look was the reasons she strolled around outside with no real purpose to her trip.

“Stupid house,” she muttered under her breath, scratching her head. Of course, it was not really the house’s fault. She kicked at an imaginary rock and scowled at the world.

She just had to get out of the house or her family would drive her out of her mind. They had made her very angry and she really could not do anything about it at the moment. Well, she never really could do anything about it. It was not like she could beat them up or something like that and they never listened to her if she said something back to them. They definitely ignored her if she requested they stop. The worse would be if she cried. Then they would never shut up.

So, she decided to just get out of the house until her fury ran its course or until she had to be back in, which usually was when it got dark outside. If she stayed out past then, her father would never let her hear the end of it and her fierce mood would be back as strong as ever until she buried it down in a pit that she was totally unaware of. Sometimes, she felt like she would literally explode thanks to her family.

Her sisters had been berating her all day for no reason that she could see; they were mostly bored and she was easy entertainment to them. Connie got on her nerves by pointing out that she would be in a regular class when she got into junior high in a few days when she lamented how summer would be over soon. Connie had been in gifted classes for her whole school career and relentlessly teased her baby sister, dubbing her an idiot because she had never been in a gifted class. Bonnie tried her best in school and she always had, but she seemed to be rather average when it came to education’s measure of intellect, namely the basic school subjects. She had to put up with being called several versions of stupid, including some rather harsh, blunt terms like “retarded,” by Connie until she just could not take it anymore that day. 

“I’m not stupid. School is just hard,” she grumbled, once again kicking a rock that was not there. “Lonnie’s dumber than me.” And as much of an asshole as Connie.

Her sister Lonnie had been telling her for the better part of her life that she looked “awkward,” and had not shut up about it that morning. Bonnie was not sure what appeared “awkward” about her, but she tended to take her older sister’s word on it because she had trusted her sisters for her whole life as far as she knew. She believed Lonnie when the blonde told her that she would never have a boyfriend because she was weird-looking, which actually did not bother her as much as Lonnie would have liked since Bonnie was only twelve and the blonde had been saying such things for years now, even when Bonnie assumed boys had cooties. She supposed weird-looking was a nice, sisterly way of saying that she was ugly.

“I don’t get awkward, though. How the hell do you look awkward?” Bonnie grumbled. But, then again, she felt awkward most of the time. Awkward and ugly.

Bonnie probably would not mind being ugly if Lonnie did not bring it up all the time and contrast it to her looks. She noticed being ugly, or “awkward” or “weird-looking,” did not keep her from having friends, even though she did wish that she had more of those. She had a bit of a problem keeping friends because she often lost her temper with them. Typically her anger was not directed at something they did, but she blasted them just the same.

And if being “awkward-looking” kept her from having a boyfriend, she probably would have shrugged it of. She had never had one before and she kept on living, but Lonnie made it seem like something so important and as it was said, she trusted her sisters. They seemed to know what they were talking about most of the time. Plus, they were older. They had to know more than she did, right?

“They don’t have to be bitches about it, though,” she growled, glaring at the park in the distance.

Her sisters had combined forces for most of the day, amusing themselves while tearing her down. They had seriously gone on almost non-stop about how horrible she would be in junior high and how bad things would be for her because she was… well, Bonnie. They even said her name like it was an insult. She had been very close to throwing a lamp at them, but there was no point. She would only end up in trouble, if she hit them or not. So, she fled.

They made her feel like she was unnecessary around their home a great deal of the time, like she was an accident or a mistake, a piece of junk mail they decided to keep. She could not do things as well as they did, so there was no point to her being there. She had no function or purpose and they never let her forget it.

Well, she simply tried her best to do things as well as they did with the hope she would have as much worth as they did at some point in time. It did not seem to work. They still did not treat her like they treated each other.

They got along with each other, hung out together, and all sorts of things while she was always excluded. She wanted them to include her. It would make her feel like she was part of the family and that she was loved by her sisters. She did not know it exactly on a conscious level, but she was aware that she wanted some respect from them. One day, she vowed a long time ago, she would make them proud of her and they would see her as an equal.

Bonnie figured it was possible for her to achieve such a thing since her sisters did seem to love and respect each other. They acted like friends. She gathered that they got that way by doing something that impressed the other. She could be impressive, she was sure of it. She just had to try harder and one day, she would be able to be a part of their little group.

“And then they’ll stop being assholes to me.” Or so she hoped anyway.

The thought left her mind as she entered the large, green park and looked around. There were a few thick trees shattered about that were prime for climbing. In fact, one had a couple of boys in it. Their kite was caught on a high branch.

There was a picnic area off to the left with a couple of families occupying some tables. Bonnie’s own family came there sometimes and ate. It was never much fun. Her father was always grumpy and her sisters were… well, themselves.

A small pond with deep blue water was located in front of her. People went there to race boats on certain days. Sometimes, she watched. Something about the sound of the boats and watching them moved settled her. She was not sure what it was. Maybe it was just the fact that there was noise, but it was happy noise, not yelling like at home. A baseball diamond was set up to the far right, barely visible from where she was, but she could tell that there were people on it.

There were not as many people around as she thought there would be. It was a nice summer day and everything, so she had expected the park to be packed, but there were only a few folks around. She did not care about for the most part because it was not like she planned to talk to anyone or anything like that. She just needed some time to clear her head.

She went and sat down on a park bench. Sighing, she just breathed in the air. The smell of summer seemed to invade her, but her stomach coiled. The tension pulling at her body remained.

She looked around, seeing some squirrels in a nearby tree. There were ducks in the pond, which was not too far away. There was a little girl down there with a man that was probably her father and they were feeding the ducks bits of bread. Bonnie sighed while quashing a ping of jealousy that flashed through her. She always wanted to feed ducks in the park when she was little, but her parents or sisters never took her to do such a thing for various reasons. Sometimes they would get her hopes up and tell her things like “later” or “tomorrow” or “when the weather’s better,” but later and tomorrow never came and the weather never seemed to be quite right.

She turned her aqua eyes away from the scene and focused on her sandal-covered feet while allowing her mind to wander to the future. She was pretty sure she could turn things around for herself in junior high. It was a fresh start with new people. Even if she was in a regular class, maybe the work would be easier and she could get moved into a gifted classes. Maybe there would be boys there that did not think that she was “awkward” looking and she could find a boyfriend. She could then prove to her sisters that she was just like them, they would accept her, and then most things in her little world would be right.

Bonnie perked up when she heard the sound of an ice cream truck. What was it about ice cream that could just make a crappy day a little bit better? She did not know or care, but she was thankful for that small favor in life. She went into her pocket to make sure she had run out with some money and found she had. She smiled to herself. _At least something’s going my way today_. She trotted over to the truck and brought a strawberry short cake ice cream bar. Yes, the day certainly was shaping up, she thought as she bit into her ice cream while walking off. It tasted like heaven on a stick.

Before Bonnie could fathom what was going on, as she was thoroughly enjoying her ice cream, she was surrounded by a group of five teenage boys and they did not look very friendly. Bonnie gulped, but showed no other outward sign of fear. _I’m not scared of them… and maybe they won’t hurt me anyway_. She rarely made it a point to show fear or weakness; she learned it subconsciously because those emotions got her sisters to pick on her earlier in life and she liked minimizing her abuse.

“We noticed you pulled out a nice little wad of cash over there at the ice cream truck,” one of the boys commented in an almost friendly tone, looking down at Bonnie since he was much taller than she was. He eyed the few dollar bills she had rolled up in her hand. His friends stared the same thing with greed in their eyes. 

“So?” Bonnie asked with a bit of an attitude. It was her money, so she did not see what she did with it as any of his business.

“We think you need to hand it over,” another boy answered with a growl. He was even larger than the first boy that spoke and she was a bit scared thanks to his tone. A guy his size could break little-old-her in half. She was not even five feet tall and did not weigh close to a hundred pounds while he was close to six feet tall and clearly weighed over a hundred and thirty pounds of pure muscle if the biceps he sported was an indication of what the rest of his body looked like. Still, she would not be intimidated. It just was not in her nature anymore. Her mind had blocked that out to deal with her sisters long ago.

“It’s mine,” she declared in a surprisingly strong voice, tilting her chin up at him.

She had eight dollars and some change in her pocket now after breaking her ten on her ice cream. It was hard work to save up ten dollars for her because she did not get a regular allowance and she often loaned her sisters money, secretly hoping such a thing would get them to like her more. She refused to give up her money without a fight since it was so hard for her to keep money for herself.

-8-8-8-8-

Twelve-year-old Kim messed with a new addition to her face, a new, unwanted addition. She had just gotten her braces and she kept using her tongue to trace the annoying devices attached to her teeth. She could only imagine the reaction she would get on her first day of junior high.

“Stupid braces,” she muttered and noticed she slurred. She felt like she had extra spit in her mouth. _Gross_.

She sighed; every time she wanted to make a good impression somewhere, something managed to go wrong. She was going to be known as “the girl with the braces” for her whole junior high school career. She was thankful that would not be too long, but she supposed it would still follow her around because she was pretty certain that some of the people she met in junior high would also end up going to high school with her.

“Why me?” she groaned, pouting.

She entered the park just in time to see she had missed the ice cream truck, which was fine anyway. She had not gotten used to her braces enough to try eating a lot of things. She continued on her way through the park. She needed to meet up with Ron by the playground. He still liked playing on the seesaw, even though she insisted they were getting too old for that. Ron Stoppable was never too old to do something and he often proclaimed that, rather loudly in her opinion and way more times than necessary.

On her way, she noticed a group of boys. She would not have thought too much of them if only she did not see what they were doing. They were circled around a girl like a clan of hungry hyenas and pushing her around. Well, Kim could not just stand by idly while something like that happened. It just was not right and she liked helping out whenever she could. She could see her assistance would probably be greatly appreciated by the girl. Besides, it would be no problem for her to help. It was a good thing that she took martial arts classes, along with some gymnastics. So, she literally sprang into action.

Kim leaped into the fray just as soon as Bonnie was pushed into the dirt, dropping her barely eaten ice cream. Just as one of the boys was about to run through Bonnie’s pockets, Kim backed him up with a rapid series of hand strikes. She then gracefully turned into a roundhouse kick, which landed on two of the boys. The fellows backed up, shocked by the sudden appearance of the fiery little redhead.

“Who the hell is this?” one of the teens demanded with wide eyes and a furrowed brow. His friends seemed just as surprised, mouths gaping and eyebrows curled up.

“The person that’s gonna kick your butts,” Kim answered, spitting a little thanks to her braces. Some of her words slurred again. Internally, she sighed. _It’s hard to be intimidating with a lisp_. Maybe she should try practicing talking with the braces… in the privacy of her room.

“Ew, say it, don’t spray it, kid,” another of the boys said while shielding his face from Kim’s words.

Kim sucked her teeth. Great, not only were the braces ugly, but they also made her talk weird and spit on people. _Life with braces just keeps getting better and better_ , she thought sarcastically. _I wish Mom and Dad just left me with the crooked teeth_.

“Look, just leave her alone,” Kim commanded, pointing down at Bonnie.

Bonnie was still on the ground, eyes just as wide as the boys and mouth hanging open as well. She was stunned for a completely different reason, though. She could not believe that someone came to her rescue. She guessed there was a first time for everything.

“Like hell we’re going to let a pipsqueak like you tell us what to do!”

The boys charged Kim with the intent to beat her up, figuring since she was the same size as Bonnie, it would be an easy task. Size was not what counted in the brawl, though. Kim wailed on them with style and grace.

They could not believe they were being beaten up by a little girl and just kept coming in for more. Kim happily obliged, if only to teach them to pick on someone their own size next time. After a few minutes, it dawned on the boys that they would not be able to conquer Kim and they were just prolonging their own suffering, so they ran off in the other direction, swearing things were not over by a long shot. Kim only laughed while watching them go.

Bonnie was amazed and awestruck by what she just witnessed. The redhead before her was like some kind of superhero/angel of vengeance. She did not know what she should do or say while standing before such a wonderful person. She felt the urge to throw herself into the olive-eyed girl’s arms and just thank her forever and always for saving her pain and eight dollars. But, before she did that, Kim turned to her.

“You all right?” Kim asked, once again spitting slightly as she spoke, but she put her hand over her mouth to prevent hitting Bonnie.

“I’m fine. Thanks for that,” Bonnie managed to answer, even though she was still in awe of the girl in front of her.

“That’s good. I’m Kim,” the redhead introduced herself with a tight smile. Her tone was much more friendly than her expression.

“I’m Bonnie.”

“If you’re not doing anything, you wanna hang out with me? I’m going to meet my friend at the playground,” Kim explained. She still had her hand over her mouth, now totally mortified with her braces because she could feel how much spit escaped her mouth as she spoke. _This is so majorly uncool!_ Maybe she could convince her parents to get them removed.

“The playground?” Bonnie echoed, forehead wrinkled. Kim looked like they were about the same age, so she should be too old for the playground.

“Yeah, my friend’s still a kid at heart,” Kim remarked. She grinned behind her hand. She thought it was sweet that Ron was still a little childish, even though it was embarrassing when other people were around.

Bonnie shrugged and agreed to go. It was not like she had anything better to do and she really would like to get to know her savior a little bit better. Maybe they could be friends, Bonnie considered. That would be nice. She could always use more friends in her opinion, especially friends who wanted to protect her.

-8-8-8-8-

The first thing Bonnie did when she got home was tell her sisters about Kim. She liked Kim a lot so far and had seen the girl do some amazing things while they were at the park. She had also been happy to find out that Kim was into gymnastics, which was something that she was interested in, along with ballet. They had done tumbles in the field and Kim was so graceful. She told them about how Kim had beat up all of those boys and then showed her all kinds of martial arts moves.

Her sisters were not as supportive and astonished by the whole story as Bonnie had been when it unfolded. In fact, they just used it like they used everything else that Bonnie ever told them; they used it as a means to make fun of her.

“You know what that girl sounds like,” Lonnie said to Connie once Bonnie finally stopped talking.

“A dyke,” Connie replied with a smug sort of bluntness. Smiling cruelly, Lonnie nodded.

“A dyke?” Bonnie echoed, studying both of her sisters through narrow eyes. That did not sound good and their expressions did not help. “What’s that?” she asked her sisters. She had never heard such a word before. She made a mental note to go look it up if her sisters did not give her a sound explanation, which was likely to happen as they rarely explained words to her that she did not understand.

“It’s what you are,” Lonnie taunted the youngest of them, going so far as to poke her hard in the shoulder. Bonnie was moved back, but did not seem to notice.

“I’m a dyke?” Bonnie’s face scrunched up and when her sisters laughed, it did not help change her expression. She was getting the idea that she should not be a “dyke,” though. It seemed to just be something else that her sisters could hang over her head, like the fact that she was the dumb, ugly one out of them all.

“She admitted it,” Lonnie commented while snickering. 

“What is it?” Bonnie asked in a panic now, disliking that they seemed to have labeled her something bad without telling her what it was.

“A dyke, little sister, is a girl that likes to have sex with girls,” Connie explained with a smirk. There was a cunning, almost predatory glint in her eyes that she got whenever she could make fun of her baby sister while enlightening her at the same time. It was an expression that probably mirrored a fox’s when it sneaked into a hen house.

Turquoise eyes went wide and Bonnie frantically shook her head. “Wait, what? I don’t like to have sex with girls!” She never looked at girls _that_ way. Well, to be fair, she had only started noticing boys in the past year and she actually did not think there was much to them. But, she knew she should not even think about having sex with girls.

“No, you already said you do and you just told us about your little girlfriend,” Lonnie remarked, still laughing from Bonnie’s earlier words.

“She’s not my girlfriend!” the youngest objected, stomping her foot and throwing her hands up. Kim was just her friend. _Well, not even really a friend_. After all, she had just met Kim today and if being friends with Kim meant her sisters would tease her, well, she would not be friends with the redhead, even though she really liked Kim.

“But you like her, don’t you?” Connie asked, looking like a cat that had cornered an injured mouse.

“As a friend. Wait, maybe not even that much,” Bonnie answered. There was a chance her sisters could take that the wrong way, after all. She did not want them to think that she was what they said she was, especially since she could tell they did not think it was a good thing. _Great, now I’m the dumb, awkward dyke out of us. No. I won’t let that happen!_

“I bet you like her a lot,” Connie smiled cruelly and batted her eyes.

“You probably want to kiss her when you see her again,” Lonnie chimed in, making kissing noises.

“No, I don’t!” Bonnie hollered, a vein in her neck popping up. Luckily for her, their father was not home or she would have been barked on by him for raising her voice through the house. Her hands were now balled into tight, angry fists, even though she did not plan to hit anyone. Her nails bit into her palms, but she was so upset that she failed to notice the pain in her hands.

“I bet you do,” Lonnie practically cooed while bending down to get into Bonnie’s face and really rub it in. She tapped Bonnie on the nose with her index finger.

Bonnie wrinkled her nose and stepped back. “No, I don’t! I’m not a dyke!” On the inside, she begged with her sisters to believe her and to stop making fun of her. She just wanted them to treat her like they treated each other.

“Sure you’re not.” Connie rolled her eyes.

Bonnie picked up on the sarcasm immediately. Lonnie was still a little shaky on understanding sarcasm when it was used, but Bonnie did not give her a chance to give that away.

“I’m not!” Bonnie screamed at the top of her lungs, as if the louder that she said it, the more believable it would be.

The older sisters continued teasing Bonnie until the twelve-year-old just ran off to escape the verbal torment, seeking sanctuary in her bedroom. She slammed the door as loud as she could, just because her father was not home. She tossed herself on her twin-sized bed.

 _I’m not a dyke and I don’t like Kim_ that _way_. In fact, she did not like Kim at all, she told herself. _Nobody asked her to butt into my business, after all. I could’ve handled things. I didn’t need her, her and her stupid karate and ugly braces_.

If she hated Kim then her sisters would not be able to make fun of her. That made perfect sense and to her that was all right because she probably would never see Kim again. After all, she had only just met her and they had not made any plans to get together again after they parted ways in the park.

Imagine Bonnie’s surprise when she saw Kim a few days later in the schoolyard on the first day of school. It would seem they were both going to be going to the same junior high school. She gulped as Kim noticed her and waved. She did not wave back, but that did not stop Kim and Ron from trotting over to her.

“Hi,” Kim greeted Bonnie with a friendly smile. She was glad Bonnie was at school with her and Ron. They had all had a lot of fun the other day, so she thought they all had the chance of being great friends.

Bonnie rolled her eyes and did not bother acknowledging Kim. She even turned her back to the redhead, which took a lot of willpower to do because she really did like Kim, not matter what she told herself. Kim was amazing and she wished that they could be friends.

But, she remembered everything her sisters said. She did not want them to make fun of her anymore and she did not want them to call her any more names. So, she was not going to spend any more time with Kim, especially if her sisters were actually right about Kim.

She supposed there was a chance that Kim was a girl that liked girls. She did not want Kim to like her like that. It would be weird and people would make fun of her. She definitely did not want more people making fun of her, especially when she went out of her way at school to get other people to think that she was cool. It was just nice for people to look at her with some respect.

“Hey, Bonnie, what’s the matter?” Kim asked, squinting a little as she eyed Bonnie since Bonnie seemed to be ignoring her. She doubted Bonnie forgot who she was already.

“Why don’t you go away, brace-face?” Bonnie huffed, finding a talent she did not know she had, but would exploit throughout her time knowing Kim. She had the ability to spot the very thing that would hurt Kim as much as possible and use it with vicious accuracy. Deep down, it was not a talent that she really wanted, but it came in handy.

Kim’s entire demeanor dropped and she looked absolutely crushed, not just by the name, but by the fact that it drew attention to the one thing she hated about herself at the moment. Bonnie felt a sting in her heart when she saw Kim’s expression, but she chose to ignore that. She turned and walked away, leaving Kim to be consoled by Ron.

A small voice in Bonnie’s head told that she should apologize, but she ignored that voice too. She could not apologize, _would not_ apologize. Apologizing was a sign of weakness. Her sisters always used to laugh at her when she apologized and they were around. Her parents made her apologize when things were not even her fault. Apologizing was stupid.

So, there would be no apologizing and there would be no friendship with Kim and Ron. She would only work at making her sisters acknowledge that she was just as good as they were, but she soon found herself with a rival. She discovered quickly that Kim could do everything that she could do, but better.

Kim was smarter than she was, much to her dismay. Kim did not look “awkward” as far as she could tell. In fact, Kim got attention from quite a few boys. It was annoying and she did the only thing that she could, she started getting on Kim verbally, downing her to make other people think that she was not so great. She was not going to let Kim get in her way. She had to prove to her sisters she was their equal and to her that meant that she had to be the best at something. She had to be better than Kim.

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: In high school, Bonnie thinks conflicting thoughts about Kim.


	2. Duality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t own these characters.

2: Duality

Bonnie sat in her math class, not paying attention…again. Her attention drifted. Sometimes she would just stare at the wall and imagine patterns, like people did with clouds. Other times, she daydreamed and doodled. Every every now and then, she plotted, schemed, or brooded. 

It was a bad habit of hers, not just in math classes, but also in general and it had been since junior high. She had always assumed she would grow out of it since it seemed like such a childish thing to do, but she was now in eleventh grade and it was still with her just as strong as it was in junior high. Maybe she was stuck with it, she thought.

Worse than the fact that she did not pay attention, which probably explained the rather average grades she brought home for the class, was the reason why she zoned out. She hated admitting it, even to herself, but she drifted out of the real world because of Kim Possible. It helped add to why she hated that self-righteous, pompous, self-serving redhead.

And she did HATE her. She would destroy anyone who dared to suggest otherwise, not that it was common for anyone to suggest otherwise. _Bitch_.

She detested Kim with every fiber of her being. The little goodie-goodie who swore to the heavens she could do anything, except maybe be there for every cheerleading practice they had or arrive to practice on time like everyone else or accept that Bonnie was the better cheerleader of the two of them or at least accept that Bonnie was more popular. Kim should just accept that Bonnie was better than she was. _Because I am, damn it_.

For someone who had so much hatred in her heart, and it was there, Bonnie seemed to ignore what she was doing at the moment when she should have been taking notes. She was sketching a picture in her margin of her binder and the picture was of Kim. She was actually a bit talented in sketch work, having been praised by several art teachers, but she never showed much enthusiasm about the praise.

She also did not show any enthusiasm when those teachers tried to push her into different mediums and explore what they considered real talent. It was not that she did not like the acknowledgement, but because she would never show anyone who counted what she could do with a pen or pencil and a sheet of paper. There was the underlining fear of being criticized, which she intensely disliked. It was actually a given that she would be criticized by the two people who counted most in her life. After all, they never failed to do such a thing.

Still, she continued on with her sketch while reminding herself that she hated Kim. Her little self-rant was based on something she should actually deny to her death, but she could not even bring herself to defend herself when she heard it. She had started her morning off by getting on Kim’s case a little over a new shirt that the redhead was wearing. It was essentially very tacky in her opinion and she thought that Kim could have done better, not that she had said that latter part out loud. Sometimes, she actually thought, “if only Kim would let me take her shopping instead of relying on Monique’s lame advice,” but for something like that to happen, she would need to be friends with Kim and she could never do that. Anyway, she had called Kim on the horror that was her top and got in a few good hits before she had to be on her way.

But, while Bonnie was on her way, Monique had to get a line in and that was what bothered her at the moment. Well, she tried to tell herself that it was not bothering her, per se, since she knew she hated Kim. But, of course there was the obvious point of if it was not bothering her, then she would not be thinking about, especially over an hour later. It was on her mind to the point that she had absolutely no clue what was happening in math class. It was seriously plaguing her and she tried telling herself she did not know why. _It’s not like it was true or something like that_.

Well, what did Monique say that drove Bonnie to distraction? The brief conversation went a little something like Kim wondering aloud why Bonnie was such a bitch toward her and Monique did not miss a beat. “Girl’s probably crushing on you,” Monique remarked casually with a small laugh to top it off. Ron’s reaction was a look of sheer, unabashed of horror and Kim laughed at the sheer implausibility of it all. Bonnie rushed off without defending herself to such a false statement. _And it’s_ _very_ _false_ , she emphasized in her mind. 

And then that evil little voice in the back of her mind came to life. It seemed like every time she swore she had buried that thing in a deep grave, it came back to haunt her days, weeks, or months later. It always returned, especially at an unwanted time. No hole was deep enough and there was no amount of mental dirt to cover it up to keep it from mocking her in her own head. 

The voice begged the question, “ _If you hate her so much, why do you always think of her_?”

 _Shut up_ , Bonnie hissed in her own mind. She dared not answer such questions, knowing the answer deep in her heart, but refusing to acknowledge such a thing. That damn stupid voice thought it knew everything, Bonnie mentally huffed.

Every time Bonnie was so sure that she plainly and simply hated Kim and nothing more, that damned voice had to butt in. It chimed in whenever she got on Kim’s clothing, reminding her how she would like nothing more than to take Kim shopping, so the redhead could get some clothing that best complemented her. If she complained about Kim’s lateness, the voice would just counter with how much she wished she could be close to Kim to keep her focused and on task to keep her from being late or waylaid by certain, less important things. And heaven forbid Bonnie get lost in a moment of quiet loathing and staring venom into Kim’s entire being with sharp blue-green eyes because then the voice wanted to point out how cute Kim was and on occasion, it would contradict whatever thing Bonnie was silently griping over. The voice tried to make it seem that not only did she like Kim, but that she _liked_ Kim.

Bonnie did _not_ like Kim, especially not _like_ in that way. She could not like Kim in that way. She hated Kim, always had and always would. Well, except for that first day anyway. She would give anything to be able to relive that first day with Kim over and over again before her sisters said anything. Now, she knew, as if it was a stone cold fact, that she could not like Kim in that way or really in any other way because of how her sister would react. _They would flay me alive and eat my skin if they even thought I liked Kim_.

What would people say if she liked Kim in _that_ way anyway? What would her sisters say if she liked Kim in _that_ way? At this point in her life, what good would it do anyway? She did hate Kim and Kim returned the feelings just as intensely from what Bonnie could tell. The main point of it all was that she hated Kim. That was the way things were and how they should be. _And how it always will be_.

Without the little voice trying to chime in, Bonnie mentally went through why she hated Kim. The redhead was self-righteous and self-important. Obviously, Bonnie always saw those flaws in others and let them whiz right by her whenever she did any self-reflection. She silently acknowledged Kim often did things better than she did, which robbed her of any recognition for almost any feat she could do, which was just plain annoying. Sometimes the thought of Kim doing things better than she did got to her enough to where she could not bother with things and sometimes it hyped her up enough to work extra-hard. It all depended on her mindset of the day. If Kim was nearby, she would just berate Kim for the rest of the day.

The aqua-eyed cheerleader mostly detested the idea that she felt was the stone cold truth: Kim was smarter than she was. She had been trying to do better in school ever since she got into school way back in first grade and there always seemed to be someone better than she was. Now, she had to put up with Kim being that person for the past five years.

Plus, Kim rivaled her in two things that she truly excelled in, which were cheerleading and, well, being popular. She liked to believe she was the better cheerleader of the two and more popular because if she did not believe there would be little excuse for her to go on. She would feel completely inferior all around and never leave her room again.

Bonnie’s fear of inferiority was a subconscious one she never actually realized. All she knew was that she wanted recognition and it had to come from two very specific people more than anything else. She _needed_ her sisters to see her as an equal. It had been that way since she was born.

She craved her sisters’ respect, like an addict craved the next hit. Sometimes, she could feel the need clawing at her insides, scratching and damaging her. It was like a beast, gnawing at her guts, making her ill, but fueling her to go on.

She knew gaining their respect would never happen with Kim around being, well, Kim. Not to mention, it was the main reason she could not allow herself to do anything other than hate Kim and bury that disgusting voice in the back of her head. Hating Kim drove her on, pushed her to do her best for the most part and gave her someone to overcome to hopefully achieve her lifelong goal of having her sisters see that she had some worth.

As usual, Bonnie got to no real resolution with her thoughts as the bell rang, signaling her daydreaming and brooding was over until she could get to her next class. She settled on the fact that she hated Kim as she put her books away and that was the end of it. It was easier that way anyway. Besides, she should not invest a lot of energy thinking about Kim, she told herself. Not that _that_ ever worked. Most of her energy seemed to go into thinking about Kim in some way no matter how hard she attempted to change that.

On her way to her next class, Bonnie spied Kim talking to Josh Mankey. It was hardly a secret, except maybe to Mankey, that Kim was crushing hard on the bleached blond. She acted so goofy around him and Bonnie really did not like it. Someone like Kim should not act so ridiculous around a boy that hardly noticed her, in Bonnie’s opinion anyway. In fact, Kim’s behavior downright pissed her off when Mankey was around. Bonnie would never act so ridiculous around a boy and someone she saw as a rival needed to have the same dignity. Hell, just some dignity would be nice! Especially since Kim was better than Josh. It was time to get Josh away from Kim, so she could stop acting so incredibly stupid and embarrassing herself.

“Hey, Possible, I’m sure you won’t mind if I borrow Josh,” Bonnie said while hooking her arm around the aforementioned young man. She tugged him away before Kim or Josh could object.

Bonnie glanced behind her to see Kim fuming over the fact that she had just stolen Josh away. Bonnie nearly rolled her eyes. _He’s not all that_. Kim should thank her for getting the loser away from her. Bonnie actually thought Josh was a bit of a jerk considering how he often acted as if he was too cool for the room, especially when any girl spoke to him. Now, she had tried to get him to go out with her a couple of times and she figured she did it because he was cute, even if he was a bit of a jerk.

Well, more than a bit of a jerk considering how he acted when Kim specifically spoke to him. There was this air of condescension to him. How dare he act like that to somehow who had saved the damn world? Being cute did not excuse his attitude. To the point where she actually wished she dated him, just so she could dump him and knock him off that high horse.

Truth be told, Bonnie chased Josh to keep him away from Kim. Now, whether she was doing it to spite Kim for no other reason than the extreme dislike she felt for the teen hero or because she just hated guys that Kim was interested being near the redhead, would have to depend on if Bonnie was in charge of her own head or if the little voice was running things. Maybe it was a little bit of both, conscious and subconscious. Her and conscience. Either way, Bonnie was getting Josh away from the teen hero.

“So, what’s up, Bonnie?” he asked her with a smirk on his face.

He thought so highly of himself that it just danced in his eyes. She just wanted to slap him. _Jerk_.

“I needed to ask you something,” she lied.

“Oh?” His smirk grew.

The urge to slap him increased. She made a big show of looking at the clock over his shoulder. “Oh, wow, I didn’t realize what time it is. You know what, I’ll talk to you later. I can’t be late for Lit.” She walked off before he could respond.

Josh did not seem to notice that Bonnie was not very interested in talking with him. The feeling was actually mutual. She was a viper as far as he was concerned, complete with fangs, venom, and an especially nasty tongue. He did, however, like getting attention from Bonnie, but not for any reason beyond the fact that he liked talking to people. If she knew he liked the attention though, she would just think he was more of a jerk for that since it was like he was stringing Kim along… not that she cared about Kim, according to her anyway.

She went to her next class and went back to her daydreaming again. It was only English class, which was one of her stronger subjects, so she could afford to zone out. She often drifted here because she did not find it as interesting as her other good subjects, which were Spanish and chemistry at the moment. She actually did her best work in science classes and things had been that way since she was in school, which was why she never minded when she got partnered up with Brick Flagg for projects. She could carry his weight. Never had a person been more aptly name. He was about as smart as brick and his skull was about as thick as one. At least he was not digging on Kim anymore.

By Bonnie’s thinking, she was not sure _why_ she was thankful Brick was not digging on Kim anymore. The little voice in the back of her head wasted no time popping up, as it swore it knew the reason. She buried it, repressed it, kept it from daring to say anything.

Bonnie liked to tell herself she was glad Brick ignored Kim now and liked her because he was good-looking and he was the star quarterback on the football team. He was the ideal boyfriend. Bonus, it shut Lonnie about her looking “awkward” and never getting a boyfriend, which her blonde sister tried to continue stating until recently when Bonnie started dating Brick. Quarterbacks did not date “awkward” girls, after all.

The little voice would disagree and had disagreed with that assessment to a degree. Shutting Lonnie up was always a good thing. Shutting her sisters up point blank was always a good thing because it stopped the burning criticism and let her relax, even if only for a moment. It showed she was not as useless or worthless or pathetic as they tried to make her seem. She figured that the more she shut them up, the more they were going to have to respect her sometime soon, not that that seemed to be happening.

Other than shutting her sister up though, the voice had other reasons why Bonnie was glad Brick was not paying attention to Kim anymore. It had to do once again with Bonnie not wanting guys who were interested in Kim around the redhead. It sometimes even dared suggest she was jealous of those boys. She refused to accept or even acknowledge such a thing. She hated Kim. HATED.

-*-(New day)-*-

Bonnie frowned as she walked the hallway of Middleton High and saw just about the worst sight she could, not that she realized it until she saw it. Kim was holding hands with Josh. She had an odd reaction, in her opinion, because her heart seemed to skip a beat out of anxiety. It was followed by a stabbing sensation in her chest. _Wait, wait, wait. It’s probably not what it looks like_. This calmed her just enough to keep going like nothing happened.

Kim and Josh were just holding hands. It was a friendly thing to do, Bonnie assured herself. They were just being friendly holding hands like that. When Josh walked Kim to class, it was as a friend; Bonnie followed the pair since they walked away holding hands. And when Kim kissed Josh on the cheek, it was just a friendly kiss… right? Oh god, Bonnie hoped so, but that anxious feeling returned ten fold.

Her heart felt like it had a thousand hot needles in it and her stomach felt like it was in her feet. For a more time than she liked, she could not breathe. She could not remember how, her lungs would not work, and her ribs felt like they would squeeze her to death. Suddenly, everything felt strained and taut.

The feeling was so overwhelming that she could not even rationalize it to herself for the moment. She just allowed her body to react while she trotted off away from the terrible sight. She retreated to an empty stairway and leaned against the wall, hyperventilating over what she had witnessed. _Lungs, what the hell? First you don’t work, now you work overtime?_

She growled in fury. _Stupid lungs. Stupid Josh. Stupid Kim!_ She felt angry, but also like she wanted to cry. _Why the hell do I feel like this? It doesn’t make any sense. Why do I hurt so much all the time?_ After all, she hated Kim and did not like Josh as much as she pretended to. So, she should not feel so strongly and negatively over what she had seen. And then that evil voice in her mind decided to speak up.

“ _You know why you feel so strongly and negatively, so stop kidding yourself,” the voice said. It sounded almost teasing._

Bonnie shook her head, both to disagree and hopefully to shut the voice up. She did not care about Kim. She hated Kim. She did. _I hate her so much!_

“ _No, you don’t_ ,” the voice hummed.

 _I do! I do! I do!_ Bonnie shook her head even more. Maybe if she was lucky, whatever the hell the voice was would fall out. _I hate her and I hate you_.

She took a deep breath to get herself together, which took a few minutes. She went to class. She was late, of course, but she did not care. She did not even bother to mumble an excuse to the teacher, just throwing herself in her seat and sitting quietly. It was enough for her teacher and no one said anything to her. She silently fumed for the rest of the period, having no idea what class she was even in. She then made it her mission to find out what was going on between Mankey and Possible.

Her first stop were the cheerleaders, of course. Someone amongst their group had to know when there was a change in Kim’s status in regards to Josh. It was not as easy as she thought, though.

A few people, like Tara, were reluctant to tell Bonnie what was happening between Kim and Josh. They were that way because they assumed that Bonnie liked Josh. _Wrong one_ , the voice in the back of her mind whispered. It almost sounded as if it was laughing at her. It took willpower she did not even know she had to not scream at these idiots about how she did not like Josh. Instead, she moved on until she got what she wanted.

“They’re so in love with each other,” more people than liked cooed about Kim and Josh.

Bonnie felt even worse than before when she found Kim and Josh were now a couple. In love? She was not sure how she managed to avoid throwing up with the way her stomach turned. For a second, she thought she might literally die. Like her heart would actually explode in her chest. Hearts could really do that, right? Somehow, her lungs managed to remember how to breathe and her legs did not give out, so she pressed on as best she could.

She sucked it up as best she could to make it through school, but everyone noticed she was not her usual self. She skipped cheer practice altogether, knowing instinctively she would not be able to face Kim without causing an embarrassing scene. _And you know why_ , the voice seemed to taunt her and she cracked due to emotional stress that she was currently under thanks to the news… right in the school parking lot. Thankfully, it was empty.

A short sob escaped her, but she was able to swallow it down and she started running home. Okay, she knew why! Lord, she knew why. She did not admit to herself until she was safe in her bedroom, though. Once she was in there, she sighed in despair while throwing herself onto her bed as if it would impale her and take all the pain of the day away.

“I like her. I really like her…” Bonnie whispered to the safe, uncompromising air. She _liked_ Kim Possible.

She had always liked Kim in a friendly manner at the least. How could she not? She never forgot the day they met, how nice Kim and Ron were to her, and the fact that Kim had saved her. She grew to admire Kim and how the redhead was good at everything, even if it was slightly annoying and blocked her goal, in her opinion anyway. She liked being around Kim, even though she typically made fun of the redhead when they were near each other. There was just a comforting brightness to Kim that warmed Bonnie whenever she was in Kim’s presence, like knowing that no matter what she did to the redhead, if she ever did need help again in life, Kim probably would help her without much though, even though she was so mean to the hero. She did not have that with anyone else in life.

She could not count on anyone like she could Kim. She could not describe how safe and comforting such a thing was. It was something she could wrap around herself to keep her warm on the coldest days.

And now the teen hero was dating and she was dating that jerk Josh. The very idea made a frown slice across her face. _Kim should know she could do better_. There was nothing about Josh that made him deserving of the redhead. Kim was diamonds and sunshine while Josh was dirt, ordinary, run-of-the-mill dirt.

Bonnie did not like the very notion of Josh dating her Kim. _Yours? Since when?_ The turquoise-eyed teen had not realized she thought of Kim possessively until that moment. The voice in her head had something, though, and it was going to run with it now.

“ _You always wished she were yours_ ,” the voice continued.

“So what if I do?” Bonnie asked aloud.

Yes, every now and then the voice that she knew was just a part of her that she wished would go away got to her enough to where she answered it out loud. She never carried on a conversation with the voice out loud, though. Responding aloud once was just an opening to start debating with herself to hopefully come to some conclusion, even though she usually just came out more confused than when she went into the self-discovery.

So what if she wanted Kim? It was not like she would ever be able to have her or even openly acknowledge she did want Kim, _if_ that was the case. Her sisters would never let her live it down and she could not stand the thought of them being right. She was what they called her all along, namely a dyke.

She could still remember when they first said the word to her, the looks in their eyes. They were like sharks with blood in the water. If she dared admit this, the waters would not just be chummed anymore. They would tear her apart and devour her dumb, awkward corpse. She sniffled at the thought.

“I just want them to respect me,” she hissed into her pillow. Was that so wrong?

They seemed to respect and like each other. She just wanted some of that. She was their sister, too! She doubted it would be possible for her to gain their respect and be accepted by them if she turned out to be homosexual, or bisexual, whichever. She had never really sat down and thought about her sexuality. She just had too much on her mind and assumed that she was straight because it was what her sisters seemed to think was right.

 _You do know that if you let them get to you, she won’t be yours_ , the voice pointed out the obvious, throwing Bonnie’s conscious words back at her. The teenager sighed. She hated it when the voice decided to make sense and try to reason with her. All she wanted out of life was for her sisters to respect her, to stop making fun of her, and to accept her. It was not much to ask for, was it? _Well, what makes you think they’ll ever stop or accept you? And even if they did, what then?_ Bonnie thought on that one for long moment.

If she did something incredible her sisters would have to respect her, right? It just had to be that way. She had told herself that all her life. If she could just do something that was bloody brilliant, they would have to respect her. They would just have to. After all, she was their sister, too.

“I just need to do something…” she murmured. _Really? Think about it_.

She ran down the list of things she had done throughout her life that had not gained her the respect she coveted more than anything else on the planet. She followed them in ballet and was praised very heavily by their teacher for her talent and all her sisters did was seem to resent it. Even now, they sneered when she invited them to her recitals. They came, but only pointed out any mistakes and flaws she made.

She had proven to be a bit of a mind when it came to science, having actually won a couple of science-fairs in grade school, but they did not seem to care. Hell, Connie made it seem like science was not a measure of intelligence whenever Bonnie won a science fair. Even now, last year she had placed in the science fair. Of course, it was behind Justine Flanner and Kim, but it was something. Her sisters were not impressed.

She had a boyfriend now that kind of shut Lonnie up, if only for a moment. Connie just had to new opening with Brick being a bit educationally challenged. Lonnie eventually caught on and felt like his many head injuries played a part in him dating Bonnie. Obviously he was too stupid to realize how awkward and “weird-looking” she was. Now that she thought about it, it was apparent Lonnie would always have some excuse to call her awkward.

Bonnie sighed and rubbed her eyes. Was it really a pipe dream that her sisters would one day like her in the way they seemed like to each other? If so, she had wasted so much time and effort and she just could not let that go. _Why not? Only a fool would hold on to a dream that would never come true._ There was always a possibility, Bonnie silently insisted.

“But, then again, it’s also possible pigs might fly some day, but not very likely,” she mumbled before she realized it. _It’s probably less likely than that for your sisters to actually see you as one of them one day_. “Yeah…”

Bonnie did not know what to do as she came to the conclusion that the stupid, evil voice in the back of her head wanted her to – her life had been almost a waste. Her dream had been nothing but an illusion of a child that she never let go. Her sisters were never going to accept her like they did each other, for a reason that was totally beyond her. Equal to that, she did not totally hate a certain redhead.

Still, even if she did not hate Kim, how did that explain her feelings from seeing Kim with Josh and the sudden possessiveness that used when referring to Kim? It would seem she had already buried her earlier conclusion because she was not completely ready to face that fact. Maybe she would never be ready. _But, that doesn’t mean those feelings aren’t there…_

“Shut up,” she hissed and rubbed her eyes. “Just shut up.”

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: Bonnie writes a letter to Kim.


	3. Debate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t own these characters.

3: Debate

Bonnie stared at her ceiling, hanging off the side of her bed. It was late at night and she should have been asleep, but sleep refused to come. She was letting thoughts fester and remain on her mind. For a while, she tried the successfully tested method of finding nonsense patterns on her ceiling, but alas, her brain refused to find anything. Her brain refused to turn off. 

The voice in the back of her head taunted her, haunted her really. _You know the truth. You don’t want to admit it, but you know the truth_. She hated that voice, even though she knew that it was a part of her. It was just a stupid part of her, in her opinion anyway. She wished it would just shut the hell up.

For the past few days, she had gone to school and had to see Kim with Josh. The sight of the couple together made her feel physically sick. Her stomach would twist into knots and she would get the urge to throw up. She tried her best to ignore the feeling, but the voice in the back of her head was not letting it go. _You like Kim_. Bonnie did not accept that, but she did examine the possibility.

Okay, for argument sake, what if she did like Kim? When did that even happen? She had always made it a point to hate Kim since the second time she had come into contact with the redhead. But, she guessed she made it such a point because she had liked Kim so much from the first time they met.

It sounded so idiotic in her head. Was she really that stupid? She had to hate someone because she liked the person? Well, yeah, because if she did not hate Kim then she would end up trying to spend time with her and other friendly things like their day in the park and then her sisters would never shut up about her being a “dyke” and making fun of her. She did not want to have to deal with that, even if it was a lie.

“Am I so screwed up?” Bonnie asked herself because of the reason she began detesting Kim. _Yes_. Okay, she silently conceded she had to be pretty screwed up, especially lately considering how often she argued with that stupid voice inside of her head. “I’m crazy at the very least thanks to the stupid voice in my head,” she mumbled. _Don’t blame your insanity on me_.

Fine, she had started hating Kim because she liked Kim and she did not want her sisters to make fun of her. _But, they make fun of me no matter what_. Bonnie could do no right in their eyes and she had spoiled a potentially good and meaningful friendship for that. She had adored her one day with Kim and was so fond of the memory she wished she could just relive it over and over again, even though it had started out rather horribly. And she had let all of that go because of her sisters.

“I really am as dumb as Connie insists,” she groaned, slamming her head into her pillow.

 _We probably could’ve been really good friends_. If only she had given things a chance. Kim had always seemed like a good person to know and a better person to have for a friend. She had liked Kim enough to be friends back then and she should have gone with that, especially considering how much she grew to unconsciously admire the redhead as time went on, even though the forced hatred that she had purposely planted eventually grew into something rather real.

“She does get on my nerves, no matter what,” Bonnie conceded. _Everyone gets on your nerves. You still like her_.

Well, even if she liked Kim, it did not explain why she felt the way she did when she saw Kim with Josh. After all, seeing Kim with Ron did not make her anxious or physically ill. Maybe that was because she knew that Kim and Ron were just best friends while she was more than aware Kim and Josh were more than friends. _It’s called jealousy_.

A frown cut across her face and her throat burned a little. Was that it? Was she jealous? Of what? _Don’t play dumb_. Well, she was not jealous that Kim had Josh. After all, she did not even like Josh. _Stop playing dumb_.

“Okay, fine,” she yielded in a grumble to that irksome voice that just would not shut up. So, she liked Kim in _that_ way and she was jealous of Josh for having the redhead in a way that she seemed to want. _“Seemed to want”? Really?_ She growled. _Shut up. I’m working this out._

If all of that was the case, when did that happen? When did she start liking Kim beyond a friendly manner? How did she start liking Kim beyond a friendly manner? After all, she spent almost every waking moment actively and intently hating Kim.

Well, she supposed deep down whenever Kim did something amazing, she admired that. But, she did not see how admiration could lead to romantic feelings. Yes, Kim was an incredible person, which she would only admit in her own head at the moment and even that pained her slightly. Now that she thought about it, there were times in the past that she ended up just staring at Kim in pure awe, like if she did some impossible feat in practice or got the answer to a particularly difficult math/science problem or even came up with an in-depth explanation to something in English class. Of course, those things happened when they were sharing courses. The things did not have to be superhuman, just above average and impressive to her.

There were also the few times when Kim was kind to her, no matter how horrid Bonnie had been to the redhead at the time. Kim would reach out and offer to help her with schoolwork, or offer her part of her lunch, or something. Bonnie both resented and liked these actions. No one else on Earth had ever offered to help her, not even her so-called friends. Sometimes, Kim would notice she looked down about something and would actually ask Bonnie if she wanted to talk about it or offer up her assistance or something like that. Of course, Bonnie declined, but it was still a sweet gesture that touched her. Most of the time when things liked that happened, she would forget to be snappy toward the redhead, until someone reminded her anyway. Then she would come back with a vengeance because how dare Kim make her forget to hate her!

It was at those times, when Kim did something sweet in regards to her, that a warm, almost pure feeling cruised through Bonnie and put her at ease for some weird reason. It was like she was able to relax and breathe easy, which was actually something rare with her and it did not last long no matter what. Usually when the feeling came over her, someone chimed in and she was expected to make fun of Kim for some thing or another, so she never really had a chance to think on such a strange reaction that she had to Kim.

But, other than those things, Bonnie could not figure out why she might like Kim beyond a friendly manner. She had never been attracted to another girl before. At least, she did not think that she had anyway. Sure, like every other girl on the planet, she judged on girls’ looks and things, but she never thought that was serious or that it meant anything. She still was not totally sure that it meant anything.

But, the more Bonnie thought about Kim, the more she figured it meant something because it stayed on her mind. It had to mean something because not only did it stay on her mind, but it always left her conflicted when she liked to swear she was resolute on the issues concerning the olive-eyed hero. No matter how much time went by, Bonnie knew she never totally bought into the fact that she completely loathed Kim, so it had to mean something. _Of course it means something._

“Didn’t I tell you to shut up?” she muttered. _I can’t think with all these distractions_.

Well, why did it have to mean something, anyway? Why could she not just be normal like every other girl she had ever come into contact with? Why could she not be normal like her sisters? She would bet everyone in existence knew just who they were attracted to, who they wanted to be friends with, and why they treated people in a certain manner by the time they were sixteen. She was willing to bet her sisters never went through as many internal, mental issues like she did. They knew what they wanted, or at least they seemed to know in Bonnie’s opinion. She wanted to know just like them.

 _Is that it? You want to be like them?_ Bonnie sighed and rubbed her forehead a little. She supposed she did not want to be like her sisters, even though she already was. The revelation put a knot in her stomach. _Oh, my god, I turned into them_. She treated Kim the way her sisters treated her and she doubted her sisters did it because they liked her. _Connie’s right. I’m definitely the dumb one_. She felt like a complete idiot for behaving in such a way to a person who had been so willing to accept her for who she was.

The brunette cheerleader had never been accepted for herself. She had built up a nice shell for people to like, painting the shell with a pretty exterior and everything. She thought the real her was worthless thanks to years of verbal and mental abuse from her sisters. She had been able to be someone else, though, that first time that she was with Kim and Ron. She had been able to be the true Bonnie with the pair and they seemed perfectly fine with that.

Kim and Ron had been nice to her for no reason at all and she had returned it with harshness and cruelty. The more that she thought about it, the worst she felt. _Then stop thinking and do something about it._

“Well, what should I do?” Bonnie asked herself.

The bemused teen did not have anything to offer herself. She did not know how to set everything right, thinking the damage was done and the game was pretty much over before it began. Bonnie actually hoped she did not really like Kim in _that_ way because she was almost certain that nothing would come of it. She doubted she could even make things right enough for them to maybe be friends again.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What’s with this defeatist attitude?” Bonnie demanded, scowling at the thoughts she had allowed in her mind. The voice did not even need to chime in.

Bonnie was not usually one to give up, no matter what. Sure, she sometimes got bored or distracted, but she never gave up when she wanted something bad enough and at the moment she believed she wanted Kim in someway bad enough. She wanted something to make the confusion go away and to make the sickness she felt when she saw Kim with Josh go away. There had to be something that she could do. _Well, you could always explain what happened._

Bonnie scoffed as soon as the thought echoed through her mind. That plan sounded extremely stupid in her opinion. Like Kim would believe her if she explained everything. Well, before anything else, she was going to have to try to build some form of trust between herself and Kim if she wanted anything to become of them, be it a friendship or something more. So, she would have to explain things somehow, so it would seem that the plan was not as stupid as it first sounded. Okay, so she was going to explain things.

“But, how the hell am I going to explain this mess? I barely understand it. How can I get her to understand?”

She was not too sure if she could speak about such personal things face to face. It was not that Bonnie was shy, but she was particularly ashamed of herself now that she thought about things and she was also ashamed of the reasons for why she did such distasteful things. She would just never be able to say it all and she was not sure how she would start such a conversation anyway.

“And would Kim stick around to hear the end of it?” Probably not.

She considered that she could send Kim an email, but she did not know Kim’s email address. She supposed it was on the website, but that would mean leaving her room. Bonnie did not have her own computer, which she found very irksome because she hated being outside of her bedroom when she was in the house and other inhabitants were home. She did not want to have to deal with her sisters or her parents. They never made things easy, after all.

She figured she could always wait and use a computer at school, which was where she tended to use the computer anyway. But, that was rather risky. Someone might come and see what she was doing and even though Bonnie did not know exactly what she was going to write, she knew she did not want it to be seen by anyone other than Kim. Well, there was always the old fashion way of doing things. She could write a letter.

“And I wouldn’t even need to leave my room to do that,” she realized.

Bonnie picked herself up off of her bed and went to her desk. She rifled through the desk for a pen and some paper. She pulled out a couple of sheets, thinking she would not need too many. Bonnie then stared down at the blank sheets as if trying to will her thoughts onto the page, even though she had no thoughts at all. She was not sure what she should write or where she should start. The perplexed girl supposed a greeting would make a good start. The first word that she put down in lilac-colored ink was “Possible.” By the end of it, she would be out of five pieces of paper and the cold, formality that started the letter had evaporated like spilled water in the summer.

When Bonnie was done with the letter, she seemed to be on a roll, feeling much better and she wrote most of the note with tremendous ease. Her brain and body ran on automatic without thinking of the possible negative repercussions of her decision. She effortlessly and neatly folded the five pages up and put them into an envelope. She sealed the envelope with an old sticker from her desk that she used to put on her notebooks when she was younger. The sticker was a pair of crimson puckered lips.

-*-(Next day)-*-

Bonnie took a deep breath, hoping to calm the anxiety swirling around her stomach like stormy seas. She had felt that way all morning, but it got worse when she came to school. She now stood in the school hallway and stared down the way at Kim’s locker. It seemed like it was a million miles away. Dare she go and put the letter there? Her brain ordered her to do so, but her feet refused to move. It would seem the good feeling she had just last night had withered away like a rose in the desert.

The anxiety commanded Bonnie not do something so revealing as to allow Kim to see that letter, to see through her. _Life without a shield is painful_ , she reminded herself. _Life without armor is Hell_. She knew that from early years with her sisters, whom she had never even provoked. She had been terrible toward Kim for years and now she was considering providing Kim with the matches to light her ablaze and destroy every ounce of her being. It seemed so incredibly stupid to do as she thought about it.

But, she reminded herself that Kim was not like that, not spiteful or vindictive. Kim was kind… for the most part. Kim had to be forgiving. After all she hung out with Ron, who had to commit a billion mistakes every week, and that was on a good week. So, it should be safe for her to bare her soul to the redhead. She had to take the chance. She needed to do what she came to do, if only to avoid feeling pain and regret later on. _I can’t keep circling the drain like this_.

Bonnie steeled herself in a way that she was used to in order to survive a verbal lashing from her sisters. She took another deep breath and then rushed down the hall as if she expected arrows to shoot out of the walls and she did not wish to be hit. She stopped briefly at Kim’s locker to shove the letter through one of the three slits in the door. She then hurried away, making sure that no one saw her as she made the transfer and getaway. _Well done_. She silently prayed that for once something went right in her life.

-8-8-8-8-

Kim was talking to Ron about an assignment they had that he had not gotten around to doing yet since it was not due for a couple more hours. She had already scolded him about his procrastination a few days ago, so she would not bother with that anymore. She now expressed concern that he might not get it done, but he did not seem to believe that would be a problem.

“You gotta learn to relax, K.P. The Ron man has this one in the bag,” he boasted with a calm sweep of his hand to show that he had things under control.

The redhead wasted no time scoffing at that one. “In the bag?” she echoed incredulously with an arched eyebrow. How was it possible to have an assignment in the bag if he had not done any work for it and it was due in two hours?

“Trust me,” he replied with a sly smile.

Kim could not help shaking her head. Unless Ron had magical powers that he was not telling her about or he plain cheated, she was pretty sure he was not going to get things done. She turned her attention away from him and quickly spun her locker combination. As soon as it opened, an envelope slid out and glided to the floor. She did not notice and neither did Ron as he was about to go into his big plan for passing the project, which surprising did not involve cheating, magic, or even prayer. Rufus was the one who happened to see the letter because it floated passed him on the way, so he tugged on Ron’s pant leg to get his attention.

“What’s up, Rufus?” Ron inquired, looking downward.

“Message,” the rodent squeaked while pointing down at the floor.

“Message?” Ron echoed and then he looked down to see what his little buddy was talking about. He spotted the sealed envelope and picked it up. “Okay, so it’s a letter. So what?” he asked with his face scrunched up as he turned it in his hand. “A thick letter, but still. So what?”

“Kim’s,” Rufus explained and he pointed to the redhead.

“Kim’s? Okay, if you say so,” Ron replied with a shrug. “Here, K.P. I guess this fell out of your locker or something,” he said, handing the letter over.

“Thanks. I wonder who it’s from,” Kim said, inspecting the front of the envelope. It did not even have her name on it, but if it was in her locker, it had to be for her.

“Probably Mankey,” Ron grumbled with a slightly angry look on his face. Rufus giggled and then made a kissy face.

“Don’t say his name like that, Ron,” Kim requested sweetly.

The laidback blonde just rolled his eyes. He was not a fan of Josh Mankey and it had nothing to do with the fact that thanks to that guy he saw his best friend less and less… Okay, maybe it had a little bit to do with that. But, most people would resent something like that, he figured. So, it was a natural reaction and he was going to keep going with it.

Other than that, something about Josh’s attitude just rubbed Ron the wrong way. Maybe because Josh seemed casual and familiar with a lot of girls, who seemed to like to smile and touch him a lot. Maybe because Josh bleached his hair like some artist-poser or something like that when Ron had never seen the guy draw a thing in his life. And maybe because his name was suspiciously close to “monkey,” which had to be a hint of evil as far as the blond sidekick was concerned.

Kim just tucked the letter into her pocket and the friends walked off to class, hoping they would make it before the late bell rang. The hero eventually forgot about the note until she went home. She did notice she had not seen Bonnie all day; the tanned teenager was avoiding Kim, mostly out of fear. The redhead was not going to complain. It was nice to have a day lacking abuse.

The letter got Kim’s attention when she went home and got out of her street clothes. She went through her pockets and just emptied them out to make sure nothing got caught up in the wash. She stared at the letter and then decided to open it to see whom it was from. She turned it around to the flap in order to open it and was taken back by the sticker than sealed the envelope shut.

The sticker of puckered lips seemed like such a girly thing to do, so Kim now doubted the letter was from Josh. But, who else would write her a letter? She slid her forefinger underneath the flap, lifting the sticker from the paper. She then opened the letter and liberated the five pages inside. She was stunned by the length and wondered who besides Josh would write her such a long letter. She now feared that she might have taken someone else’s mail, but the opening line replaced her fear with confusion. It was addressed to “Possible,” so it seemed to be hers, but it seemed like a cold greeting that did not go with the time that had to come along with writing a five-page letter.

“Well, only way to get any answers is to read it and see what it’s all about,” she muttered.

Kim flopped down into the seat at her desk to give the note her full attention and hopefully find out who had written her such a thing. She suspected a girl wrote it because it was in lilac-colored ink. There was a sort of feminine curve and softness to the handwriting. It even looked familiar, but no person was coming to mind. What girl would write her a letter, though? Well, with luck, she would find out soon.

Despite the coldness of the greeting, the letter had the air of an apology for the first few paragraphs, explaining that the author had been wrong to treat her so harshly through no fault of her own or without a logical reason. Kim still did not know who had penned the note, though. She refused to jump to a conclusion, even though she already suspected. She was glad to have the apology even though she did not know who it was from and she was pleased to find out that there was not something totally wrong with her.

After the long apology came the explanation of why the person had treated the teen hero so terribly. There were now plenty of hints as to the author’s identity, but Kim still did not allow her mind to assume anything. She could not even believe the person on her mind would ever do such a thing as apologize to her, which was why she would not jump to any conclusions about the writer. The only problem was that from what she knew about the person, the letter made sense. It made a lot of sense.

“Which is something I never would’ve thought of,” she mumbled.

Kim sighed. If the letter was from who she thought it was, she did not know what to think. She felt a little sorry if it was the person that she thought it was. It made a lot of sense, but Kim wished that was not the case. After all, she knew what it was like to be treated like crap for no reason for a few years from someone she actually respected. Yeah, she actually respected the person she suspected wrote the letter because despite it all, the person was good at what she did for the most part. Kim could not imagine having to put up with such terrible treatment for her whole life like the author claimed to have to do.

When the explanation for the harsh behavior was done, there came a long, honest outpouring of the mind. The author expressed her true feelings for Kim, which were far from negative. Those emotions came out as admiration and a desire for a lasting friendship if that was possible.

Kim was a bit skeptical on having a friendship with this person. Despite all of the confessions and everything, she could still feel the sting of unwarranted abuse from over the years. She was not totally sure she could trust the person to be sincere anyway, considering the fact that the person had made a career out of putting her down.

The final piece of the letter sounded just as earnest as the rest, but it held an air of nervousness to it as it broached a subject that shocked Kim. It spoke of a possibility that there were some romantic feelings lingering inside of the author. There was a deep longing, the letter explained, and “it could indicate some deeper desire than friendship.” It was ended with a request that Kim “please consider all my words, no matter how repulsive they might seem or how untrustworthy you might think I am. I’m pretty tired of this and would really like to start over and explore what could have been.” It was finally signed with one simple name that caused Kim to gasp, even though she should not have been surprised. It was from Bonnie.

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: the reaction to the letter.


	4. In This Corner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t own these characters. I don’t own the Twilight Zone either.

4: In This Corner 

Kim sat in her bedroom. She stared down at a letter – _the_ letter – and she could not believe who had given it to her. After all, Bonnie had been an adversary to her since junior high. The letter had explained why and pled with her to believe Bonnie of all people.

“Which is crazy in and of itself,” she mumbled, shaking her head.

It held even more bizarre information beyond the reason for Bonnie treating her as an enemy, which happened to be that Bonnie wanted to be her friend or maybe even more. _Crazy in and of itself_. It was mind-boggling. It had to be a trick. It was the only way that things even began to make something that resembled sense. 

Even though she concluded that the letter had to be a trick, she put the note back into its envelope and sealed it back with the sticker that had secured it shut earlier. She then tucked it away in her desk drawer rather than throwing it away in the trash, which was actually closer to her than the drawer was. She did not think why she had done such a thing and she tried not to think on it anymore.

Kim then tried to go about her day as she normally would, doing homework and such, but she could not help thinking about the letter. One of the things that stood out in her mind was the elegance of the letter. She did not know Bonnie could be so articulate, especially in writing. She knew Bonnie was not as empty-headed as she came off as being, but English class was never her strong point as far as the redhead knew. It would seem Bonnie just had not been trying when it came to school, which was something that the olive-eyed hero could believe.

Kim had to wonder what kind of trick Bonnie was trying to play on her. She could not figure out what could come her way through the letter, especially since Bonnie had signed the thing. No matter how outside-of-the-box Kim thought, she could not see the malicious plan that the letter had to set up. It just did not make sense. What could Bonnie do to her after giving her the letter, after saying what she said? She could not figure it out no matter how long she thought on it and she wasted quite a few hours thinking about it. 

She wondered if she should confront Bonnie and demand to know what the letter was about, what the scheme was, and maybe she would just get it over with and they could go back to normal. Bonnie might fake it like she did not know what Kim was talking about, though. There was no guarantee that she would be able to get a straight answer by being upfront with Bonnie, but she really had no desire to wait and see what kind of trap lying ahead of her. After all, no one wanted to be caught and humiliated, as she suspected her cheering rival was trying to set her up for. After all, Bonnie was always looking to embarrass her in someway.

“Maybe Bonnie didn’t even write this. This could be some sick joke from someone else,” she figured. “But, it really looked like Bonnie’s handwriting and the person knew a lot about Bonnie’s home life.” The author was more than likely Bonnie.

But, really, what could Bonnie be playing at? She wanted to at least have some idea what to expect. At least if she had an idea, she could cut her embarrassment down some when it happened. Unfortunately, the redhead just could not see the angle of what the letter might be setting up. She feared that she was going to have to wait for it.

-8-8-8-8-

Bonnie was just as restless as Kim. She paced her room, seconding guessing the decisions she made. She could not help wondering if she should have written the letter and delivered it to Kim. Was that the right thing to do? It was too late to take it back now, but she was still extremely nervous about it because she did not know what Kim’s reaction to the note might be. She could guess the reaction and she was not too pleased by the assumption dancing around in her head like some malicious warlord about to skewer her. Bonnie was plagued by other negative thoughts too.

What if Kim had not gotten the letter? Worst still, what if Kim had gotten the letter and did not believe it? Or what if Kim thought she was some kind of emotionally scarred, psychotic freak? What if Kim did not forgive her for everything she had done since their second meeting?

There were so many terrible possibilities and her mind tried to roll through each and every one of them while playing out the scenarios that could go along with them. With each new scene, the urge to vomit became just a little bit stronger in the frightened, insecure Bonnie. She was going to make herself sick if she continued on as she was.

 _Have faith_ , Bonnie told herself. It was Kim, after all. Kim was a bit obnoxious in her perfection, but she was one of the kindest and most forgiving individuals if not in all of existence then at the least in all of Middleton. Well, she hoped Kim was like that. She could not help considering she might just be looking at the hero through rose-colored glasses because of her hopes and the awe she felt for her supposed rival. Maybe she had gone from one hopeless situation to another, namely going from wanting her sisters to accept her to wanting Kim to like her. She supposed she was just going to have to wait and see. She just hated waiting.

-*-(Next day)-*-

Bonnie and Kim did not run into each other at school, which they were semi-thankful for, even though they would have liked to get things out of the way. They were not quite sure if they were both avoiding each other or just if their paths simply did not cross during school hours. They enjoyed telling themselves it was the latter because if it was the former, then it showed that they both had cowardly streaks in their bodies. They were not interested in considering themselves cowards.

They were going to have to test the theory of their bravery when cheerleader practice came up. There was no way they could avoid each other there because there was no way that either of them would miss it, unless of course Kim got a mission. Bonnie had already ditched yesterday, so she had to go today. They were not lucky enough for Kim to get called away. It was time to see if Fate had kept them from seeing each other or if they were both actually craven.

The rivals locked eyes for a moment and did not move, as if they were both under a spell. There was nothing in the world as far they were concerned in that time. The air was stiff and they were pretty much on a plain black field rather than in the Middleton High gym, mentally anyway. Turquoise to dark olive and nothing more, not their usual animosity or even an uncomfortable breeze from one to the other. There was nothing for the senses to pick up except for aqua and olive.

For that brief moment in time, the pair tried to read each other’s minds. Kim wanted to know if Bonnie was lying to her or setting her up. Bonnie wanted to know if Kim thought she was some kind of freak. They did not get their answers in the small time they had. And then, less than a second later, everything went back into its proper order in the outside world, and they tried to do the same. Their fellow cheerleaders did not detect a thing between them.

“Let’s get to work people,” Bonnie called out, needing to project an air of normalcy. But, she wondered if anyone else could feel how heavy the air actually was.

Bonnie and Kim managed to make it through cheerleader practice without anything seeming like there was something strange between them. But, then again, they had virtually ignored each other. The other cheerleaders seemed to take it as their usual fare, assuming they had a fight sometime earlier and this was the fall out.

By the end, Kim and Bonnie both wondered if they should talk about things or if one of them might duck out on the other. They both did consider fleeing the scene, long and hard consideration on that from both parties, but they decided against it. They were not cowards, after all.

The two faced each other in the gym when everyone else was gone, like two gladiators before a match. They stood barely a foot apart from each other, eyes locked on. They steeled themselves, expecting the worst, something worse than death. So, they had their defenses up as best that they could gather their shields, hoping their aegis would be enough if the other decided to attack. But, underneath all of that protection, there was still the soft core of their beings, the things that they guarded. They hoped the other could not make it that deep if an assault began… and maybe even if an assault did not happen.

They were not sure what to say as they eyed each other suspiciously. They both looked away from each other at the same time after a few seconds with the hope they could get their thoughts together before they ended up flinching. There had to be someway to start the conversation right. There were plenty of ways to start if off wrong and they were both looking to avoid that. Kim spoke first and it would seem that her tact abandoned her despite her desire to be diplomatic about things.

“Okay, Bonnie, what are you playing at?” the redhead demanded with a glare.

“Playing at?” Bonnie echoed, twisting up her mouth. What was Kim going on about? Her letter was not “playing at” anything at all. It was just what it said it was. She did not see how the note could be “playing at” anything anyway.

“Yeah. I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing or what kind of set up you got going, but I’m not going to fall for it,” Kim declared, proudly putting her chin in the air. She appeared rather smug, happy to have figured out that Bonnie was trying to play her and that she had called the brunette on it. _It’s about time I call her on her crap_.

“I’m not playing any game,” Bonnie hissed, insulted by the accusation. Mentally, she conceded that it made sense for Kim to suspect her of foul play. _After all, when have I ever done her a good turn?_

Kim glared harder. “You’re telling me that letter wasn’t part of some big, elaborate plan to humiliate me?” she inquired in disbelief. She did not even have to scoff, considering the look on her face was more skeptical than the sound could ever be.

Bonnie looked at Kim as if she had four heads and one of those four had to be stuck up the redhead’s ass, Bonnie concluded. How in the hell could her giving Kim a letter that spoke about her inner most thoughts and feelings be part of some big plan to humiliate Kim? Not to mention, when did she ever have some “big, elaborate plan” when it came to picking on Kim? Her humiliation was usually in the form of quick, snappy, evil words or using Kim’s parents in someway. Her plans were never “elaborate” or even “big” really, just effective.

Bonnie wanted to just be a smart-ass for the conclusion Kim jumped to, but she doubted that it was a good time for her to do that. Besides, considering the way she treated Kim over the years, she could understand why the hero was skeptical on her motive for writing the letter, despite the naked bearings of the note. The brunette cheerleader supposed it would be best if she just explained why she wrote the letter, even though she thought it had done that job for her.

Sighing, Bonnie’s demeanor dropped. She let her body relax, which actually made Kim tenser. Bonnie rubbed her palms together and Kim’s muscles jumped, like she was ready to pounce.

“Look, Kim, this isn’t a part of some crazy trick or some attempt to humiliate you in front of everybody. I just want you to give me a chance,” Bonnie said in a low tone with a hitch in her voice.

If Kim had not heard it with her own ears, she would not believe that was Bonnie’s voice at all. Bonnie sounded very close to humble, scared, and a little sorrowful. The look in her turquoise eyes matched her voice. Bonnie looked away, as if she was aware of her expression. She did not like showing weakness, which she thought she was doing by explaining that she wanted something from Kim. It was so hard to be vulnerable after living with her sisters for so long and Bonnie always expected pain after being just a little bit open with someone.

“Give you a chance?” Kim said and this time she did scoff, tossing her head to the side a little. It took all of her willpower not to back up because of how incredulous she was. She still anticipated some kind of trick and even this could be part of the setup.

“I was hoping we could be friends again,” Bonnie replied, almost pathetically. She toed the ground like a shy child as her heart beat so heavy, it hurt her chest. It did not help that her ribs felt like they grew tighter with every breath she took.

Bonnie hardly recognized her own voice. The fear she felt at the moment, the thought of Kim rejecting the proposal, wrapped around all of her insides to the point of strangulation. She felt like she was suffocating, wanting to blame it on the hot gym, but she knew it was her own near-crippling fright. She was even shaking.

“When the hell were we friends in the first place?” Kim inquired with a confused look twisted on her rounded face. For as far back as she could remember knowing Bonnie, she recalled Bonnie hated her guts and made her life difficult.

Bonnie looked away again and swallowed, trying to get rid of a lump in her throat. It did not work. Tears stung her eyes, but she would be damned if she cried. Kim did not even remember.

Now, Bonnie was hurt and it showed on her face plain as day. Apparently, her defenses were shot to hell already and the core of her being was about as guarded as a peach pit. Kim did not remember saving her and inviting her to play that one day? Well, she supposed one day did not make people friends. She had just looked at it as them being friends, but a friendship took two people, so maybe there never was any hope for them, Bonnie thought. Maybe Kim would have grown distant from her no matter what. _Maybe I’m always going to be the odd man out_.

Kim felt a little guilty about her question when she noticed Bonnie’s expression. She had never seen Bonnie look so shattered. It was like it would have been more merciful for her to cut off Bonnie’s arms and legs than to deal with the brunette as she had. Maybe she was being a little too hard on Bonnie, the petite hero thought. Maybe there really was not some plot against her and Bonnie was just reaching out to her, which was still weird. Why was Bonnie trying to be her friend now after so many years of being her personal thorn in the side? It still did not make sense to Kim.

“Look, Bonnie, I don’t know what made you write me this letter and everything and I just want to know if you’re trying to set me up or something,” Kim explained, not sounding as confrontational as she had earlier. “I mean, you haven’t really been the nicest person to me,” she pointed out the obvious.

“I know,” Bonnie admitted easily with a sigh. She had stated as much in the letter already, so saying it out loud was no big deal. “I’ve been a real jerk to you, I know. I mean, I know it’s hard to believe, but I never really meant any of that stuff.” Her voice was still close to being pitiful, mostly due to the fact that she was torn up inside now. She was in a whole different kind of agony than what she was used to, but it was repairing itself a little since Kim seemed prepared to actually talk about things now.

“Then why did you do it?” the redhead inquired.

“I don’t know if you remember how we met, you know the day in the park…” Bonnie trailed off, waiting for some sign that her rival did recall that, praying that Kim remembered that day.

“Oh yeah, when Ron got you to seesaw with him,” Kim recollected with a chuckle. It was hard remembering that Bonnie because of the Bonnie she always saw after it. That one day, Bonnie had been nice, friendly, almost as carefree as Ron. In fact, Ron seemed to get Bonnie to loosen up that day more so than Kim did and they had all gotten along quite well. It had been great fun.

Bonnie’s chest loosened a bit and it was easier to breathe. Kim remembered. “Yeah. Well, it’s just that after that, I went home and I told my sisters about how much fun I had with you guys and how you… well, how you helped me out and everything. They started making fun of me…” Bonnie trailed off again and glanced away, more to get herself together than anything else. “They made me feel really bad about hanging out with you,” she confessed in a whisper. She felt horrible for believing them, for listening to them, and for throwing away something she truly desired because of them.

“Why?” Kim asked with her eyebrows curled up.

“Because they’re assholes,” Bonnie hissed, practically snarling like mad tiger as she spoke, while making an angry fist. That had been buried for a long time, but she was glad to get it out. Kim was taken aback by the force in Bonnie’s tone, but Bonnie failed to notice. “And I was an asshole for listening to them,” Bonnie added in a defeated sigh.

“Bonnie…” Kim was not sure what to say.

“Look, I know you don’t have any reason to believe me, but everything I said in that letter was true. And I’m not trying to use my sisters as an excuse for everything that I did, for the all of the pain that I caused you, but I’m hoping that we could start over or something like that. Maybe that you could just give me a chance and we see how things go from there,” Bonnie offered in a hopeful tone, trying her best to force out a smile. It did not work.

Bonnie was trying to be realistic without being pessimistic. She knew not to expect Kim to jump right into being her friend and she knew better than to bring up the fact that she might have strong feelings for Kim beyond friendship at the moment. Sure, she had gotten that out in the letter, but the letter was a vehicle for her to dump everything in while the conversation was only to hopefully steer them in the right direction.

“So, what, you want to be friends or something?” Kim asked, still seeming very bemused by the whole thing. She still suspected a trap of some kind, even though Bonnie seemed totally earnest in everything. The fact that the brunette was close to tears helped that effect. It was just hard to believe someone that treated her like trash for her whole teenage life.

“Well, that was sort of my hope,” Bonnie replied lamely with a shrug to match.

“Why?” Kim practically begged to know because she just did not understand and it was clear from the expression painting her face. Her eyes held a look as if she did not even know where she was because this situation was so out of the ordinary.

Again, Bonnie tried to smile. It came out as a sad partial smirk. “Because I want to be friends with you. I’ve always wanted to be friends with you.”

Kim shook her head. “I don’t know. This seems way too out of the blue, Bonnie. I mean, way too far.”

“I know, but just give me a chance,” Bonnie implored.

“What made you suddenly change your whole stance on everything?” Kim asked with an arched eyebrow. She figured a reason might help her believe what was going on a bit more. She wanted the circumstances that led up to something that seemed so random that she was almost sure that she was in the Twilight Zone and there was some poetic justice coming in the end.

“I’ll tell you that one some other time,” Bonnie answered because that explanation would lead into the fact that she might have some deep feelings for Kim and she doubted that would go over well considering the fact that the hero was skeptical on her wanting a friendship between them.

“Well, you need to tell me something now or I’m just going to keep thinking this is a trick,” Kim pointed out.

“How in the hell is me pouring my heart and soul out to you on a paper a trick?” Bonnie practically demanded to know, speaking in a slightly low tone, even though they were the only two people around. She just wanted to be certain that no one heard if someone was lurking about the outside hallway.

Bonnie had told Kim things that she had only just admitted to herself and Kim thought it was some kind of trick? What kind of trick could she possibly set up by letting Kim know just how screwed up she was? If anything, she just opened herself wide open for ridicule from the teen hero. Kim needed to use that supposed good mind that she had, Bonnie mentally huffed.

Kim was shut down for more time than she liked. First, the words “pouring my heart and soul out to you” kind of stopped her. They reminded her of the part of the letter that she was least likely to believe, the end when Bonnie seemed to be expressing romantic interest in her. That had to be a sign of the upcoming apocalypse. And then there was the logic to Bonnie’s question because really, how was Bonnie saying such things in that letter a trick?

“Then, really, what do you want?” Kim asked.

“To be friends,” Bonnie replied and she unconsciously grabbed for Kim’s hand.

For a moment, they stayed still, Bonnie holding Kim’s hand with no hatred or rivalry between them. There was only rather sweet contact and a feeling that they could like each other if given the chance to let something grow. And then it reached their brains as to what was going on and they let go. They both looked away, blushing nervously.

“Bonnie, I need some time to think it over. I mean, this is a big change and all,” Kim explained.

“I understand,” Bonnie said with a nod.

The pair parted ways on that, feeling it was probably the best note they had ever left on since their first meeting. Bonnie actually left feeling light as she went home. It was like she had been relieved of some great burden. Nothing was going to get her down that day, even when she went home and had to deal with her sisters. Everything just seemed right in the world for her for once. The brunette could not help smiling for the rest of the day.

-8-8-8-8-

Kim was not as light as Bonnie. In fact, she was bogged down with bewilderment to the point that she physically felt like there was a ton of weight on her back. She threw herself on her bed, but the weight moved from her back to her chest. None of this made sense.

“Why did she drop all of this on me now? What the heck is going on? What does she want?” Kim muttered to her ceiling. As expected, it did not have any answers, similar to Bonnie, she supposed.

She did not understand what Bonnie wanted from her. In person, Bonnie expressed a desire for a friendship, which she had also done in the letter. But, also in the letter, she seemed to imply wanting more than a friendship and Kim was not sure if she could deliver on that and she did not want to lead Bonnie on.

Kim had never thought on feeling that way toward any girl, but especially Bonnie. Thinking about a girl as something more than a friend was not something that Kim had ever done. She had never met a girl that sparked her interest like that. Hell, it was hard for her to meet guys that sparked her interest like that. Ron liked to tease her, saying she had high standards and that was why she could not get dates. He did not have an explanation for why he could not get dates, though.

She could not imagine dating Bonnie. Hell, she had trouble imagining being friends with Bonnie. _We could’ve been, though_. It seemed like so long ago, though. It was like a dream, but a pleasant dream.

Kim supposed she could give it a try. After all, she could do anything. Maybe all Bonnie did want to do was be friends. She guessed she was going to have to take the risk and see what Bonnie’s intentions were, if only to end the whirlwind of uncertainty going through her like some out of control twister.

-*-(New day)-*-

Giving Bonnie a chance as a friend was a bit hard. Ron freaked out when Bonnie came over to have a conversation with Kim, so the brunette ended up getting on his case about it. This led to Kim getting on Bonnie’s case about giving Ron a hard time, which led to Bonnie storming off. Kim then had to find Bonnie later on and they had to go through whole explanations for their behavior. It was exhausting and that was only the first day. They repeated those mistakes several times until they figured out they probably should just get used to being around each other and then they could ease Bonnie into possibly being around Ron.

Bonnie could not help wondering why she was so snappy toward Ron. She had liked him just as much as Kim the first time that they met. His behavior was cute and funny back then, but now it was just annoying to her. She thought it might be more her than him because she was not used to being around someone as goofy as he was. She supposed she could get used to him. Hell, if she could get used to being around Brick then she could get used to being around anybody.

But, for the moment, Bonnie just hung around Kim. They walked home together after cheerleading practice, alternating on whose house was the first stop. They talked a lot and surprisingly found that they had a lot in common beyond the cheerleader thing. Since Kim was into math and Bonnie was into science and they were both in chemistry that semester, it gave them a lot to discuss. Kim was actually surprised at the brain that Bonnie hid underneath that shallow mask of hers.

They got along pretty well since Bonnie was not being snide. That also surprised Kim, but she did not dwell on it. She liked Bonnie’s company and she was glad that she had given the tanned girl a chance. Maybe they really could be good friends. Apparently, anything was possible.

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: the end.


	5. The Beginning of Something New

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t own these characters.

5: The Beginning of Something New

Kim and Bonnie had grown fairly close as friends in a few short weeks. Bonnie was even starting to make an effort to get along with Ron, but that process was going rather slow. She was still easily irked with his excitable nature. So, most of the time Bonnie was around the redheaded hero was when Ron was not around. 

At the moment, Kim and Bonnie were in Kim’s room, which was becoming normal for them. They walked to Kim’s house and did their homework together, which was good for Bonnie because a lot of the time she found it very difficult to make it through even a portion of her homework at home. Sometimes, one of Kim’s parents would drive Bonnie to her house when they were done or Kim would walk her halfway there. Bonnie refused to let Kim walk her all the way home as if she could not take care of herself.

At the moment, they quietly read _The Grapes of Wrath_ for English class. They had two separate classes with two different teachers, but it seemed the whole English department at their school decided they were going to torment the junior class with that thick piece of text. To be even crueler about things, the students were all being tested about little things in the book to make sure they did not just go read the spark notes, not that Kim would ever do that. Bonnie was willing to cut that corner, but Kim simply talked her friend out of it.

They both peeked at each other over the books every now and then, eyeing each other with some fascination in their gazes. This was something they did since becoming friends, trying to sneak looks at each other. They were both curious of the other, for different reasons. Their reasons had a common thread, which had to do with Bonnie’s feelings.

After spending so much time with Kim, Bonnie was more and more certain she liked Kim beyond the friendship border. She was attracted to Kim to the point where she wanted to date her, but damn it, Kim was not only still going out with Mankey, but also probably straight as an arrow. Since she accepted her attraction Kim, Bonnie guessed she was bisexual, but she was not too sure. All she knew was she liked Kim and she really wanted the redhead to give them a chance a relationship, but she doubted that would happen.

Bonnie doubted she and Kim would ever be more than friends because Kim never brought up the end of her letter. It would seem the petite hero thought if she ignored it then maybe it would go away. Well, that certainly was not working, as Bonnie had been trying that for a while now.

Bonnie would rein in her emotions since being friends with Kim made her feel quite good, better than she felt with her many shallow friends. It seemed like everyone needed substance in their lives and Kim was that for her. She would hold onto that.

Kim actually had not forgotten about the last bit in the letter, which was why she stole glances at Bonnie. Most of the time she did this, Bonnie failed to notice, but she feared it was a little more obvious when they were close and merely reading. She had been trying to figure Bonnie out, like Bonnie was a jigsaw puzzle and she was not sure if she had gotten the whole picture or not.

She did not think there was some malicious trick coming her way, but she was still attempting to figure out exactly what Bonnie wanted from her. Friendship seemed to make Bonnie content and tamed her somewhat, but Kim could not help wondering if Bonnie was sticking around because she wanted something deeper than a friendship. And what did deeper than a friendship mean anyway?

Did Bonnie want a romantic, meaningful relationship from her? Did she want an experimental fling? Did Bonnie just want to make out with her? What? She could not figure it out, or at least she did not think she could because it seemed way too incredible. She certainly was not going to ask Bonnie about it, though.

It did not matter, Kim told herself. Bonnie was behaving for the most part and their friendship seemed to be enough for the both of them. Maybe Bonnie was just overwhelmed when she was writing the letter. After all, Bonnie had years of emotions that had been buried rushing to the surface when she wrote that letter. So, she could have just been overwhelmed and with that thought, Kim had another, a curious one. She was not shy in asking that one.

“Hey, Bonnie,” Kim said out of the blue, or so it seemed to her companion.

“Yeah?” Bonnie replied, looking up instantly from the book. She was happy for an excuse to stop reading. Oh, she was going to have to try to get Kim to cut a corner with her because there was no way that she would be able to read the entire book and not lapse into a coma.

“You never really told me the reason that you sent me that letter.”

“No?” Bonnie asked as if she did not know. How could she tell Kim that she sent the letter because the sight of Kim with Josh made her physically ill and she had been trying to correct that? The sight still turned her stomach, but she had found out that she was not alone since Ron was not too in favor of the couple now any more than he had been when they first hooked up. Having Kim as a friend made things just a little more tolerable.

“No,” Kim answered soundly.

“It wasn’t important,” the tanned female replied with a bit of a nervous grin. She tried to wave it off, but had a feeling that would not work.

“Wasn’t that important?” Kim scoffed. “Bonnie, whatever the reason was, it caused you to change your entire behavior toward me, so I would think it’s pretty damn important. So, c’mon, tell me why you did it.”

“Nah, it wasn’t important,” Bonnie insisted, now trying to hide behind her book. She was finally able to capture the elusive friendship she wanted with the amazing girl that had saved her so many years ago, so she was not about to put that in jeopardy by making Kim uncomfortable with her feelings.

“C’mon, Bonnie. Don’t be that way, just tell me,” Kim tried to urge the brunette.

Bonnie looked at Kim and sighed. “You know the reason.”

“No, I don’t. If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking. So, what made you send that letter?” she asked again.

“What does it even matter now? I mean, it got my point across and you got to see that I wasn’t the bitch I kept acting like. It’s done its job, so let’s just let it go,” Bonnie huffed, ducking back behind the book. She was starting to get pissed that Kim was pressing the issue. Sure, they might be friends and she might be attracted to Kim, but the redhead still did things that got on her nerves.

“Bonnie…” Kim paused for a second, considering what she was going to ask. She decided she was just going to have to address the one ton elephant in the room. “Do you really have like… feelings for me? I mean, like, beyond the whole friendship thing?”

“Didn’t it say that in the letter?” Bonnie countered in a bit of catty tone, showing that her patience was wearing thin. She wished Kim would just drop the subject. It was clearly a one-sided thing and she would just have to live with that, she figured since Kim never brought up the end of the letter. But, crushes were meant to hurt and then people moved on. She would do that.

“Well, I thought that might have just been spur-of-the-moment or something. I mean, are the feelings still there?”

“What the hell does it even matter, Possible?” Bonnie huffed, showing her frustration beyond her tone by referring to Kim by her family name. “What are you getting a kick out of this or something? ‘Oh, I must be so hot since a girl has a crush on me.’ I don’t have to take this crap!” Bonnie slammed her book shut and reached for her school bag.

“Bonnie, hold up!” Kim reached out and grabbed her friend before she could flee the room.

“What! Okay, you had fun making fun of me—” Bonnie started, but the redhead interjected.

“I wasn’t making fun of you!” the hero promised, holding on tight to make sure Bonnie did not leave. “I swear I wasn’t making fun of you. I’m just trying to figure out why you’re here.”

“I’m here because I thought we were friends, but obviously, I was wrong,” the brunette snapped.

“You weren’t. I am your friend. I was just wondering if maybe the things you said in the letter were still there or if it was just something that came out because you were maybe really emotional when you wrote the letter. I mean, are you sitting here, heartbroken just to be with me or are you okay?” Kim inquired.

“I’m not heartbroken,” Bonnie answered, as if she was angry and offended. Frowning, she stuck her nose in the air. “You’re not all that.”

“Okay, so you don’t like me like that?” Kim asked to be sure.

“Why? What the hell does it even matter? It doesn’t have a damn thing to do with you. It’s my damn problem.” She was too upset to realize she had given herself away in that response.

Olive eyes blinked. “So, you really do have feelings for me.” That was a statement and there was no mistaking it.

Bonnie looked away, not particularly ashamed of herself, but annoyed that she had let things slip so easily. She punched at her book-bag while trying to decide if she wanted to look at Kim or just get the hell out of there. Well, if she wanted to get the hell out of there, she was going to have to break Kim’s arm more than likely, so she guessed she was going to have to look at the hero.

“What the hell does it even matter?” Bonnie inquired through gritted teeth as she faced Kim with a fiery gaze. “You’re with Mankey.” Kim did not miss the disdain in her voice as she spoke his last name. She did not miss the way Bonnie curled her lip when she said the name either. “And you’re straight,” she added.

Kim could not argue that, but she really wanted to. She was not comfortable with being the object of Bonnie’s desire since she was not likely to return those feelings. She did not want to hurt her friend.

“You wanna know what made me send that damn letter so bad? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s because I hate seeing you with that bastard Mankey. It makes me sick, okay. And that’s not some figure of speech. I actually want to throw up every time I see you with him and that’s what made me send you the letter. I wanted to get rid of that feeling,” Bonnie said, as if her words were going to hurt Kim. Apparently, she was so angry that she could not even be rational anymore.

“How? What did you think I’d go out with you if you sent that letter or something?” Kim inquired in a confused tone. She was not seeing Bonnie’s logic, which could be explained since Bonnie was not really capable of logic at the moment because of her fury.

“No, if that was the point of the letter, it would’ve said that. The point of the letter was to explain why I was a bitch and how I wanted to be your friend. Mission accomplished, so leave me the hell alone about this or go the hell out with me,” Bonnie demanded.

Kim blinked. “Are you ordering me out?” the redhead asked, her forehead wrinkling. She was starting to wish she had not brought the subject up because Bonnie was worked up and she was just getting more and more bemused with what was going on.

It was Bonnie’s turn to blink. She flinched, like she was shocked by that question. It sort of knocked her out of her rage. She had been unaware of her tone from before and did not mean to say the last part of her sentence anyway. Maybe she should just command Kim go on a date with her, she thought. She would be able to show the redhead a good time and express some of her emotions for Kim to see just how much she did care about the hero. Surely she cared more than Josh did and she could show Kim just as good or better time than the artist.

“Would you?” Bonnie asked in a hopeful whisper.

“Would I what?” Kim countered, still bewildered by what was going on.

“Would you go out with me? I mean, just once,” Bonnie requested, still speaking in a low tone. She was scared of the answer and that was why her voice was so small.

Kim’s mouth dropped open. “Are you serious?” She could not believe what she was hearing, but maybe she pushed Bonnie to it since she had pressed the issue.

Bonnie gave a weak shrug. “Yeah. You think I’m saying all this crap for the hell of it? Go out with me just once. I mean, you might like it. If you don’t, I’ll never bring it up again,” she bargained with the hope that it would work. She would show Kim a great time, even if she only had that one opportunity. Maybe it would give her a chance to sort out her feelings and maybe learn to live with her emotions. Yeah, she was not usually a pessimist when it came to herself, but she doubted Kim was going to fall for her over one date. This was not some fairy tale, after all. Still, it was better than nothing at all.

“Bonnie…” Kim was not sure what to say, how to answer. She luckily did not have to go beyond saying her friend’s name.

“Come on, Possible. I thought you could do anything,” Bonnie said. “Besides, it’s not like I’m going to rape you when I get you alone,” she added with a laugh. The redhead laughed, too, because of the randomness of the comment.

Kim thought on it for a moment. She did not want to hurt Bonnie’s feelings, but she did not want to lead her cheerleading rival on by agreeing to go out on a date. There had to be some way out of her current predicament.

“Bonnie… you don’t think something like this could mess up our friendship a second time?” Kim inquired with some reluctance in her voice. She was a bit afraid that such a thing could ruin their friendship, which she was actually enjoying. She did not want their friendship to come to an end because of a simple, avoidable act.

“Only if you let it. I mean, does it bother you that I’d like to date you? Stoppable probably wants to date you, too, but you don’t seem to have a problem being around him,” Bonnie pointed out. She could deal with what was going on because it was better than the circumstances she used to have to deal with, so there was no way that she would allow one date to wreck everything. It was all on Kim’s shoulders in her opinion.

“Ron never asked me out,” Kim grumbled in her defense.

“Well, Ron’s an idiot,” Bonnie countered with an eye roll. She was not totally sure if she believed Ron wanted to date Kim, but she supposed that it was plausible and the blond boy was just not smart enough to make a move.

“Don’t start,” Kim reprimanded her. She did not point out that Bonnie was making progress with Ron considering the fact that she had just used his first name.

“I’m just saying.”

“Bonnie, what if this makes things weird between us?” Kim asked with real concern. She liked being around Bonnie now and she did not want to chance things going back to the way they were before with Bonnie being relatively evil toward her. “What if…” She did not even want to say it.

“What if what?”

“What if everything ends up going back to the way it was… before the letter?” Kim whispered.

“I won’t let that happen,” Bonnie vowed.

“But…” Kim barely got that word out before Bonnie chimed in again.

“Just try it. Think of it as two friends going out. Nothing deeper than that,” Bonnie said.

Shaking her head slightly, Kim scrunched up her face. “You’re not going to treat it that way.”

“Well, I’m not going to sneak a kiss or something like that. Geez, you worry a lot, Possible.” Bonnie rolled her eyes. Well, she was not going to sneak a kiss _now_ anyway since Kim seemed so concerned about it being a real date.

Kim scratched her forehead. She really did not know what she should do. She would have argued she was dating Josh and could not in good conscience go out with Bonnie, but she knew that would not fly. She was pretty aware Bonnie disliked Josh, even before Bonnie said why she sent the letter. Bonnie often ranted with Ron about “the evil Mankey.” It was one thing that the brunette and blonde got along on completely.

“Bonnie, I can’t…”

“Why? What have you got to lose?” Bonnie inquired.

“Josh.” Well, there was him and maybe her new friendship with Bonnie, but she did not argue that again since Bonnie seemed to think otherwise.

Bonnie rolled her eyes again. “Josh doesn’t have to know. As far as everyone would be concerned, we’re just two friends hanging out. Am I going to have to write another letter to get you to agree?” she asked, practically snorting through the question because of her aggravation with the lovely hero.

“Bonnie…”

Bonnie scowled. She was done with hearing excuses. She put the idea out there and now she was going to have her way. It was something that she was used to, after all. Well, it was something that she was used to outside of her home.

“No, we’re going out. You’re going to have a damn good time and that’s the end of it. It’s not going to be weird and it’s not going to mess up this friendship. So, you dress nice for Friday night and we’re going out,” Bonnie stated soundly and she noticed that Kim was about to say something, an objection no doubt. “And if you have a date with Mankey, cancel it.”

Kim sort of just gaped at her. Bonnie yanked her hand from Kim’s now weak grip finally and shouldered her book-bag. She marched out of the room before Kim could offer up some kind of protest that she just did not want to hear.

They were going out, if only for Bonnie to see how it would feel. She could not help laughing to herself once she was outside as she realized just how ridiculous that whole thing had to seem to Kim because it was borderline crazy to her. She had ordered her friend on a date with her. Well, she never claimed she was not bossy, only that she was not quite the bitch she had been.

Kim was quite incredulous as to what just happened and she did not know what she should do. She could not stand Bonnie up; it just seemed wrong. She also did not want to test Bonnie since she had been so insistent. Maybe it would just be like two friends going out, which would mean that she was not cheating on Josh and nothing would be weird between her and Bonnie after the fact. She had to say that to herself throughout the week to convince herself that was the truth to make herself comfortable for when Friday was upon her.

-*-(Friday)-*-

Kim scrambled through her closet, trying to decide on what to wear. She decided to dress somewhat casual since she was going out with Bonnie. She did not want anyone to think it was more than two friends going to hang out. So, she put on semi-formal wear of maroon button-down shirt that hugged her just a little bit more than her usual shirts did. She put on black slacks and hoped she did not have to put up with another tirade; that one would be directed at her wardrobe if it was not up to her friend’s high standards.

She made sure she looked as presentable as she did when Josh took her out, even though she did not do so on a conscious level. It was a good thing that she did, though because if she had gone out looking plain, it would have insulted Bonnie. Kim’s parents had been ready to question where she was going when they caught sight of her, but when Bonnie showed up, Kim’s father relaxed considerably. He knew about Josh and, well, he did not like the boy much, but he did not like any boy if he was dating his little “Kimmie-cub.”

Bonnie, not being a boy, did not have to put up with the “black hole” speech, especially since only she and Kim knew that they were going out on a date. She was polite to Kim’s parents, greeting them with smiles as she often did since she had become friends with Kim and was over the Possible home very often. The two actually liked Bonnie quite a bit.

“You girls have fun together,” Mrs. Possible called to the pair as the teens exited the house.

“We will,” Bonnie assured the neurosurgeon with a very sweet smile, which made Kim rather suspicious.

The doctors Possible only laughed. They closed the door as Bonnie took Kim out to a car. The redhead focused her attention on the car rather her date, which was just bad manners in Bonnie’s opinion, but she would let it go. If they went out again, she was not going to let such an offense pass, especially when she looked drop-dead gorgeous in her little black dress.

“Bonnie, where’d you get this car from?” Kim asked in an amazed tone. It was a small, black two-seater sports’ car.

“Borrowed it. Hop in,” Bonnie replied and the car chirped to life as she hit the button on the key fob.

Kim raised an eyebrow. “Borrowed it from who?” she inquired as Bonnie reached over and actually opened her door for her.

“Don’t worry about it. Just roll with the punches tonight, little Miss Hero,” Bonnie said with a small smile.

Kim shook her head. “Statements like ‘don’t worry about it’ make me worry about it.”

“I didn’t steal it for anything like that. We’re not going to be the outlaws, Bonnie and Kim or anything like that,” the tanned teen remarked.

Kim chuckled a bit despite her nervousness, but the joke was actually made to comfort her. They got in the car and were off for the night. Neither was sure what to expect, even though Bonnie had planned some good times. Was it going to feel like a date? Was it going to feel like a regular time out? What?

-8-8-8-8-

The answer came in an odd way. It was not like a date nor was it like a regular time out. It was a blend, but the important thing was that they had a very good time. They went to a movie and then to a restaurant. Not some small, family restaurant like Kim often went to with Josh, but to a fancy, needed-a-reservation-days-in-advance-to-get-into-it restaurant. It was during that time that they had a nice conversation about the movie they saw, which led to other discussions. The evening was not over there, though.

They went out to a club after that. They danced together, rather closely. Kim did not notice, but she probably would have chalked things up to the sway of the music. Bonnie did not notice either because she was just lost in the moment, enjoying herself immensely. It really was not until Bonnie dropped Kim off that they both realized just how much fun they had that night.

They were not really sure what to say to each other as they sat in the car outside of the Possible house. Bonnie was wondering if she should walk Kim to the door while Kim was wondering if she should thank Bonnie for the fantastic evening. Kim turned to the other cheerleader and Bonnie turned to her.

“I have to tell you, I actually had a great time,” the redhead admitted. She felt like she owed Bonnie the truth considering all of the resistance that she had put up about going out with the brunette.

“But,” Bonnie said, knowing that was coming. Something that sounded so promising could only be followed by a “but.”

“Well… I had a great time and I’d love to hang out with you more like this, but I don’t really feel the urge to date you,” the adventurer continued, making sure to speak evenly to not flare Bonnie’s inferno of a temper.

Bonnie nodded, as if she understood or expected that from Kim. “Before you make that decision, I’ve got one last thing for the night.”

Kim was puzzled. “What?”

Bonnie shot over to Kim and placed a passionate kiss right on her mouth before the redhead had a chance to react. Kim, while stunned for a few seconds, did not pull away once she got her head together. The redhead could not pull away and it was not because she was being held or restrained in some manner because she was not.

The kiss just felt so good, so delightful and heavenly, that Kim had to stay there and experience it completely and fully. She had never felt something so electrifying and satisfying. Bonnie’s mouth was soft, demanding, and yet gentle at the same time.

The sweet embrace lasted a little over ten seconds before Bonnie eased away to catch her breath. She stared at Kim, who was not breathing at all now and had a dazed look in her olive eyes. Bonnie could not help smiling to herself. That was just as moving and wonderful as she had imagined it would be. She hoped it was enough to get through to the hero.

“Um… that was…” Kim could not even think of words to tell Bonnie just what that was. Hell, there might not be any words to describe that. Kim touched her lips and then dropped her hand as soon as she realized what she was doing.

“Goodnight, Possible,” Bonnie said in a whisper of a tone with a small smile playing on her lips.

“Yeah…” Kim agreed and exited the car.

The redhead slowly made her way to the front door of her house. She almost felt dizzy and light from what just happened. Wait, what the hell did just happen? She had just experienced the best kiss of her life from Bonnie? It was surreal.

Bonnie drove off rather satisfied with herself. She was happy to have that one night. Even if nothing came of her and Kim as a couple, she was glad for the night and figured that it would help her get over Kim if it was necessary. At least the slender hero was not a fantasy anymore, something that would have been able to haunt her for all time. She could envision things thanks to that one night and it would help her cope if that was what she had to do. But, she really did not want to have to do that. She wanted Kim to give them a try. She was going to have to wait and see what happened.

-*-(New day)-*-

Kim and Bonnie were in again in Kim’s room. They were on the floor, leaning against the bed. Bonnie was actually reading while Kim was mostly looking over at from behind her book; they were still reading _The Grapes of Wrath_. The redhead stole glances at Bonnie because of something that had been plaguing her mind for days now. Well, not really plaguing, but she could not get it off her mind and her consciousness actually begged for more. What was stuck on her mind? The kiss she shared with Bonnie.

“Bonnie…” Kim said, but she trailed off because she did not know what to follow that with.

“Hmm?” the brunette answered almost smugly. She was aware what was on Kim’s mind and that tickled her internally. She had been congratulating herself for days and was just dying to tell Kim that she wanted more of what Bonnie had to offer, but she was going to hold off. Now was not the time to be an asshole, after all. There were still some chips stacked against her, so she needed to play nice.

“Um…” Kim rubbed her forehead with three fingers as if that would help her say what was on her mind. She could not find the right words, though.

“Just say it, Possible. I mean, I think we’ve gotten to a point where we can just come right out and say crap to each other,” Bonnie pointed out. God, she had admitted to having feelings for the redhead for crying out loud, so she thought Kim should be able to come right out and say that she liked the kiss.

Kim looked away, almost as if she was embarrassed with what was going on. How could she just say it? She did not even know what she wanted to say. She felt so confused and lost, like she had been dropped in the middle of a desert from a plane without being told what desert and without any equipment.

Bonnie sighed and put her book down. She moved closer to the hero while Kim made sure to keep her eyes to the floor. Bonnie, deciding to be bold since she could practically read Kim’s mind, reached out and turned Kim’s head toward her. She leaned in close to Kim.

“I know what you want,” Bonnie whispered, her mouth was tantalizingly close to Kim’s lips. The redhead gulped and willed herself not to blush from embarrassment and nervousness.

“You do?” Kim muttered while forcing herself not to close the small gap between them.

“Of course, but before I give you what you want, you have to tell me something.” 

“What?”

“Are you willing to give us a try?” Bonnie asked.

“Bonnie… I’m not…” Kim could not get the rest of the sentence out.

“Gay? Me neither. Imagine that,” the brunette remarked. She did not think of herself as homosexual because she was pretty sure that she was attracted to guys as well as Kim. Maybe there were other women out there that would catch her eye, but for the moment, Kim dominated her thoughts.

“But, you like me,” Kim pointed out.

“I do, I really do. It doesn’t mean I’m gay. So, are you willing to give us a try?” Bonnie inquired again.

“I’m with Josh,” Kim replied.

“You’ll have to dump him if you want this,” the tanned female commented.

Kim thought about it. She had a decent relationship with Josh, but she could not get Bonnie off of her mind since that kiss. It felt like nothing she had ever had with another person. It was like she instantly connected with Bonnie and she would like to explore that. She would like to know what it meant, which she guessed meant that she would have to dismiss Josh.

Was she really willing to end a decent relationship with Josh to step into the unknown with Bonnie? Well, it was either that or let the kiss tear at her psyche for years and she knew that it would do that for at least years. She would probably regret not finding out just what the kiss and connection meant. She could not pass it up.

“I’m willing to give this a try,” Kim decided.

“Good girl,” Bonnie said with a chuckle before leaning in and giving Kim a kiss just as explosive as the first one.

The feel of the kiss told Kim that she had made the right decision. It felt such as wonderful as the first one, if not more so than the first one. She needed to get to the bottom of the emotions that she was feelings thanks to Bonnie. Could it be possible that she liked Bonnie just as much as Bonnie like her, but she never realized it? Well, she was going to find out. Bonnie was going to try to make sure Kim came to a positive conclusion and that they had a good, long relationship together.

-8-8-8-8-

The end.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the story. Thanks again. Back to my cell with me.

This story now has a sequel![ And Life Goes On!](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4590264) It picks up where this one leaves off. Please check it out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you wanna see more of my fanfics, they're all at FFN under [StarvingLunatic](https://www.fanfiction.net/~starvinglunatic). If you wanna see some original stories, you can look at FP under [StarvingLunatic](https://www.fictionpress.com/u/576301/).


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